


The Inverted AU

by CrystalNinjaPhoenix



Category: jacksepticeye
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, morality swap
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-07
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:41:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 46
Words: 212,218
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25118545
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrystalNinjaPhoenix/pseuds/CrystalNinjaPhoenix
Summary: What if Antisepticeye wasn't the bad guy, but actually one of the good guys? What if our group of five heroes were actually the villains of the story? In this reverse morality AU, Anti does what he has to in order to protect his good friend Jack from a group of five criminals, including a vigilante, a gunman, a doctor without a license, a magician with a penchant for black magic, and a hypnotist from another time period.
Relationships: Jack & Anti, Jackie & Chase, Jackie & Henrik, Marvin & Jameson
Comments: 5
Kudos: 38





	1. No Hallow's Eve

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first work uploaded to AO3, so forgive me if the formatting is a little off or I haven't used the tagging system correctly ^-^ Inverted is a story I've been working on for a year at this point, and fair warning, it's really long. If you're not familiar with the concept of reverse morality AUs, it's pretty much what's described in the summary: a universe the canon bad guys are now good, and vice versa. (Also there's no shipping in this, I'm pretty sure that's important to know straight off so all relationships tagged are platonic.) I'm copying it over from my Tumblr, where it was posted first and really well-received there, which I'm super grateful for. I hope you lovely AO3 people enjoy my story!

It was a normal apartment in the city. A nice one, but normal. The furniture was taken care of, but the room was still fairly messy, like someone had tried to clean but got tired halfway through. The setting sun shone through the open windows. The lights were off. Someone had knocked a figurine off a shelf, but otherwise nothing was touched.

Then something happened in the middle of the room. The air itself seemed to warp and bend. The world strained like somebody was trying to push through. And with a single _crack,_ it gave. Shards of purple appeared out of nowhere only to go flying in all directions, embedding in the walls before fading away. Now, a man stood in the center of the room. He wore a black t shirt, blue jeans, and an eye patch. He didn’t move, but he wasn’t still, as his body kept glitching and distorting.

Anti shook his head to clear it of any leftover magic. “Fuc͝kin̕g̕ magi— when did he ev̛e̢n l͡e̷a̕rn̶ to͡ ̛do t̛ha̴t?” he muttered. He _thought_ he’d kept a close eye on him, but apparently he was wrong. Maybe he hadn’t learned too much. Enkávma a’Ousiika—the burning of something’s essence—was one of the simplest black magic spells to learn. It was a trick in the beginner’s arsenal. Maybe the magician hadn’t progressed further than that. But it was also a possibility that he didn’t want to waste his energy on a stronger spell because he didn’t think it would be needed. And he set up those wards, too. Rudimentary, but it still took Anti all day to break through them.

He looked around. They had to still be in the apartment. He hadn’t felt them leave. But where where they? “Jack?” he called, both with his voice and his mind. There was no answer.

There was a flutter of something in his stomach that he didn’t recognize. Something jittery. He didn’t like it. Frowning, Anti glitched to the kitchen. Dirty dishes were piled in the sink, just like they had been when he’d been forced out that morning. “Jack, are you here?” Nothing.

_“Your fans want you to play that new game,” Anti said. “That one with the animatronics.”_

_“Sister Location,” Jack replied absently. He looked away from the computer screen where he was editing. Anti could’ve done that for him, but it hadn’t even occurred to him that could be an option. Jack didn’t mind, he just asked a friend to help him out. “It’s a FNaF game.”  
_

_“I know that,” Anti said, folding his arms. “Are you gonna play it?”  
_

_Jack’s eyes lit up. “Yeah. I actually had a cool idea for it. And if people like it, we could go for the whole month.”_

_“Really? What?”  
_

_“I want to scare the shit out of the community,” Jack grinned. “You know how I like horror. I’m thinking I could take some of that and put it in real life. Hence, the scaring-the-shit-out-of-them part. But I kinda…need you for this.”  
_

_Intrigued, Anti leaned forward. “Keep talking.”_

He wasn’t in the kitchen. He wasn’t in the bathroom. He wasn’t in his bedroom. He wasn’t in the closet. None of them were. That left just one room: the recording room. That morning, Jack had dragged a table in there, along with a set of knives. That was the room where it all happened. Anti glitched into the room, looking around. If he could’ve breathed, he would’ve been breathing fast. Everything was exactly the same. The pumpkin was there, the knives hadn’t moved, the camera and its LED screen were still set up. Both of those had turned off, probably affected by the surge of released energy when the cat-themed magical girl of a magician decided to throw him out.

“Jack, w͠here ̸̢ar̵e ̸yo̡u͠͞?!͢” Anti shouted. Maybe they were hiding, or magically camouflaged. Anti spun around and in a fit of glitches he was back in the living room. His hands twitched as the distortion spread outward, searching.

_“Everyone is freaking out,” Anti said delightfully as he leaned over Jack’s shoulder, watching him scroll through Tumblr.  
_

_“Hell yeah they are,” Jack agreed. “They probably think I’m possessed or something. Hey look, they even caught onto your name.”  
_

_“Or they made it up and just happened to be right,” Anti rolled his eye, but he let a flicker of a smile slip out. “We gonna keep goin’ with this?”  
_

_“What do you take me for, an amateur?” Jack said, knowing full well he was making this up as he went along. “We’re gonna do something big on Halloween.”  
_

_“Like what?”  
_

_“Uh…I hadn’t thought that far. I was thinking maybe we could get some ideas from these guys. A lot of them think you’re gonna kill me…I can work with that.”  
_

Nobody was there. Nobody was anywhere. How had they left? He would’ve sensed that! Unless they’d found some way to stop their electric signatures from being detected. Was there a spell for that? If there was, it must’ve been recent enough that he didn’t know about it. Anti told himself this. He couldn’t stand the idea that he’d been so focused on breaking the wards that he hadn’t even noticed them take Jack away. “Jack,” he muttered. “Why’d you choose t̷͟͠h̨̡͠e҉̢͏m of all people?”

_“It’s okay, he’s gone,” Jack said, shutting his front door._

_The lights flickered overhead as Anti made the switch from electricity to mostly flesh. He scowled. “I don’t like him,” he said without preamble._

_“You don’t like anyone.”  
_

_“I hate him.”  
_

_Jack sighed. “I know. You’ve always hated him, which I don’t get. He was my roommate in university, y’know.”_

_“I do know, I was there. And I’m still here, listening every time he talks. You ever notice how he switches from hating his ex to wanting her back on the flip of a coin? Or how about how you just go along with whatever he says because not doing that would make you guilty? And his house mates! There are some inconsistencies in their records, and they act…strange.”_

_“He’s not—and I’m not—they—emotions are complicated, Anti. I don’t expect you to understand.”  
_

_“Maybe you should.”  
_

Anti reappeared in the recording room. He was twitching more than normally, travelling across the room and back in half a second. That Enkávma a’Ousiika spell had more of an effect on him than he wanted to admit, and he made a note to avoid it in the future. He glared at the carved pumpkin on the table. He clenched his fists and fought the urge to throw it. That wouldn’t help Jack at all. But he had to do something. He growled, and slammed his hands down on the table, rattling the candles.

This was his fault. If he hadn’t been so _distracted,_ if he had just insisted a bit more to Jack that they were not who he thought they were, maybe…maybe nothing would’ve changed.

_“People are theorizing!” Jack said joyfully. “They’re pulling apart the Instagram story I posted.”_

_Anti dissolved for a moment as he double checked all the digital platforms. “They look like they’re having fun.”_

_“Good!” Jack said sincerely. “That’s the point.” He picked up one of the knives—the fake one—and fiddled with it. “So, you noticed the places I left in where you could do your thing?”  
_

_“I did.”  
_

_“Perfect. Now we just need this last bit. It should look as real as possible, like you’re actually in my head.” Jack dug around in his jeans pocket and pulled out a tube of fake blood. He’d dressed similarly to Anti’s usual outfit for this occasion.  
_

_Anti hesitated, then asked something quick, before he could change his mind. “What if we could_ make _it real?”_

_Jack paused. “What d’you mean?” he asked, curious._

_“Human bodies run on electricity like any computer. A different source, and more complicated, but you’re electric all the same. I can use that, influence that, travel through nerves like they’re wires.”  
_

_Jack raised an eyebrow. “So you could_ actually _possess me?”_

_“Not unless you want me to,” Anti explained hastily. “I was..made to understand, a long time ago, that your will is important. So I won’t take control unless you tell me to.”_

_Jack considered it, passing the fake knife from side to side. “Alright…we’ll try it out,” he said slowly. “But if I’m not okay with it, stop.”_

_Anti nodded. “Of course.”_

The camera flickered on and off, in response to the glitch’s whirling thoughts as he disappeared and reappeared around the room at random. He knew where they’d probably taken Jack. Unless they had a new base he wasn’t aware of. He could get him back. Probably. They had pretty serious wards set up, and if had taken him a day to break through the hastily-made ones around the apartment—even if that _was_ right after his essence was burned, he didn’t like his odds. He had to figure out some way to get in. He just needed to plan

But there was a part of him screaming to “Do something right now!” that he didn’t think was totally unreasonable. He could go to the police, in the meantime? He immediately dismissed the thought. A good portion of them were…not exactly moral, and the rest were lazy. They wouldn’t do anything unless the public demanded it. But…maybe there was some way to get people to notice, to get a lot of people invested in the case of the missing Jack McLoughlin.

His eyes strayed to the blinking light on the camera.

_It had all gone well at first. Jack’s mind wasn’t exactly guarded, and slipping in was easy for Anti, as easy as holding his breath. He ran down Jack’s limbs, testing them out. He blinked his eyes and rolled his shoulders before finally settling down in his neurons. He could read Jack’s thoughts here, and he wasn’t upset. Somewhere between weirded out and fascinated, feeling his body move on its own, but not upset. Yet._

_“I’m going to start putting the makeup on,” Anti said, using Jack’s mouth. He felt Jack’s approval.  
_

_But before they could proceed, the door to the apartment opened. Anti tensed, mentally and physically. “You expecting anyone?” he muttered. Jack was not. Jack thought it would be a good idea if Anti left so he could take care of this._

_But Anti didn’t leave. He froze, sensing the familiar electric impulses of their minds. “What are_ they _doing here?” he growled. Jack wondered who. “Three of your ‘friends.’ Hat, cat mask, glasses.” Chase, Marvin, and Schneep? “Yes, those ones.”_

_Jack felt relieved; this was good news. He’d thought someone had broken in. “They d̢i̛̕d̴ break in, Jack. Your door was locked.” But he knew them, surely there wasn’t a problem? Anti should just leave. And Anti almost did, but then he gritted Jack’s teeth and decided not yet._

_They found the recording room easily enough, they’d all been there before. Chase opened the door and entered first, followed by Marvin, in his mask as always, and the doctor, in street clothes but carrying a strange bag that Anti didn’t like the look of at all. “Jack? Sorry, are you recording?” Chase asked. “You left your door open and we were—”_

_“It was locked,” Anti said. “I’m not an idiot, Brody.”  
_

_Chase’s eyes widened. Marvin and Schneep exchanged glances, moving a bit closer together. “No need to snap, dude,” Chase continued. “Or use the surname, jesus. We were just in the neighborhood and decided, hey, let’s go see Jack! I know you weren’t really planning on doin’ anything for Halloween, so we thought we could have a little get-together here. We could wait until you’re done recording, of course, but we brought games! And treats, too.”_

_Jack started pushing against Anti’s control, causing his hands to shake. Come on, it didn’t sound like they were up to anything. He could lurk in the wiring and watch like he always did when they were around. Then he’d see that there was nothing fishy going on._

_Anti ignored him. “So is that what’s in the bag? What were you doing in this area anyway? It’s all apartment buildings. And you just happened to have shit for a party while you were roaming around the city, huh?”_

_“What is the matter with you?” Chase asked, suddenly angry. “You’re acting very weird, not like yourself at all!”_

_Anti laughed. “Oh, really?”_

_Marvin leaned toward Chase and said something under his breath that made him go pale. Chase looked at “Jack” with wide eyes. “Uh, dude, Jack—”_

_“Jack can’t answer the phone right now, can I take a message?” Anti asked in a singsong voice. Stupid? Maybe. But so much fun to watch the color drain from their faces.  
_

_Everything happened at once. Anti twitched, and the knife in his hand was suddenly real. Chase pulled Schneep to the ground as Marvin’s eyes lit up violet. A purple ball of fire launched from his hands, and Anti glitched out of the way, dragging Jack’s body with him. Jack screamed mentally, and Anti wasn’t sure if it was the breaking sensation of glitching that caused it, or the entire situation. Marvin hurled another fireball, and Anti glitched forward, taking a swipe with the knife that the magician barely managed to dodge. “Ge͞t ̨ou̵t̕! Le͠ave h̶i̴m͝ ͝a̕l҉ǫņe!” Anti shouted.  
_

_“We do not have time for this!” Schneep shouted. “Do something fast!”  
_

_Marvin paused for a millisecond, then new fire shot forth, a brighter shade of purple. It curved in a wide arc, and though Anti tried to glitch away there was only so much he could do while towing a body that was not meant to break from reality. The fire hit him. It did no damage to Jack’s body, but Anti felt a sense of wrongness, of destruction and eating away. He screamed as he was ripped from Jack, left hanging in the air, no more substantial than a cluster of pixels. “Ib hauc luca, quosei ecité!” Marvin shouted, and Anti was flung away, so far away…and when he gathered the energy to return, the magician had set hasty protection spells around the apartment. He spent all day fighting to get past those, only to realize that it had been a distraction all along…_

With a flick of power, Anti started the camera recording. He double-checked everything, making sure the table and pumpkin were exactly where they were when those three had barged in. He wrote the words “HELP JACK” on the whiteboard to the side. Then, he put all his effort into solidifying his body. He changed the hair color, making sure it matched Jack’s shade of green. He duplicated Jack’s tattoo. And finally, he took off his own eye-patch. There would be no hiding what was there when it was seen without a filter, but he could edit the footage well enough afterwards. He didn’t want to scare the viewers too much.

And then, Anti enacted the scene he’d planned with Jack. But a few major differences. The knife was not fake. Slowly, he cut. He could feel it tear apart his flesh, though it did not hurt. It was the first time he ever wished it did.

And then, he let his solidity fall away, and he spoke lines they had not planned. Not just warning, but anger poured out.

“You͞…̡H̶i̛s ҉mi̡nḑ ͏was weak!̶ ҉Yǫu all ̧saw t̸h̴e̷ ̶s̸i̧gn͝s, ̸kept hi̡m—҉” he couldn’t stay together. Reality was breaking. “I ̛am h̶er͏e҉ ͠now!҉ I͢t͏’s on͡—y͠ou̴!͟ ̷I͞t̨'̵s ̶a̛ll̡ o͠u̴r̕ ̛faults.̢ T͡ǫo ̷l̴on͟g҉—li͏stene̕d̡ to th̡em̷.͞ Y̨o̴u all sa̵w i̕t̕ h̸a̕ppe̶n͏. ̷Yo͢u c̴o̡uld’ve ̢s͟top͝ped̸ ͠thįs.͠..̢b̢u̡t͟ y͏ou͞ ͠ju̴st ҉w̕a̢t̕ched. As th̸i̢s̴ hap̡p͠ened!” His head cracked from side to side. ̕”N̕o̡w̸—h͢e's͝—g͟o̵ne͏ ҉fo̵r̵e̵v҉er͟.”

He fell apart. But he had one last message. “G̢e̷͠͏t͏̷ ҉h̴i̢m҉͞ ̵b̛͢͡a̴͢c͡k҉.”

A message to himself as well. A promise.

Two days later, he reformed once again. Furious. Jack had uploaded a video the next day, explaining how it was all fake and the community didn’t need to worry. And most of them didn’t. That fact alone made Anti want to scream. Just like he said, they all watched Jack’s life and did nothing. They watched the videos he did with Brody and didn’t remark on how he did whatever he said. They listened to him talk about his friends and chose not to pick out the signs that were blatantly there.

Still, there were a few who thought the words he chose were odd for something dismissed as an evil monologue. They analyzed it, picking out bits and pieces, trying to understand. He had to keep an eye on them, nudge them in the right direction. Help them realize something was wrong, not just in the story they thought Jack was creating, but in reality itself.

Though Anti could’ve repaired the damage his own hand had done, he didn’t. It was better this way. Its seeping blood reminded him. He would not let it heal until Jack was safe.

And until those bastards paid for what they’d done to him.


	2. The First Session

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Skipping a few weeks' time from the last chapter, Jack has been living with the other five for a while, but he's starting to notice something's off with them...Chase and Marvin decide they can't let that happen, and go out looking for someone to help.

“Whatever you’re doing, it’s not working.”

Chase never said hello like a normal person, he always opened up with statements like this. Or at least, that’s how he always started a conversation with Marvin. He didn’t even knock on the closed library door, just barged right in and interrupted the magician in the middle of very important research.

Marvin scowled, snapping the book he’d been reading closed and slamming it down on the desk. “Nice to see you too. I’m close to a breakthrough here, can you insult me later?”

“This is more important than…your, um, thing.” Chase looked noticeably uncomfortable upon thinking about Marvin’s _thing._ Coward. “This is about Jack.”

The magician raised an eyebrow, not that Chase could see that behind his mask. “What about him?”

“He wants to leave.”

“Yeah, that’s been his constant state of being for the last month or so.”

“I know!” Chase snapped. “And _that’s_ the problem! You were supposed to fix that! But after a couple of days, whatever spell you cast wears off, and he starts to wonder why he’s here instead of at his apartment. And Schneep’s been noticing that that time period between ‘forgetting’ and ‘remembering’ is getting shorter and shorter. I can’t keep deflecting his questions forever! And if I can’t do that, everything’s gonna fall apart. He’s gonna wonder what you’re doing down here all the time, or realize that every time Jackie goes out there’s a new attack on a gang, or stop trusting any drink Schneep gives him because it’s pretty weird that he keeps falling asleep afterwards.”

Marvin shrugged. “Well, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. There are a lot of empty basement rooms ever since Schneep started the clinic.”

“You’re fucking joking, right?” Chase said, appalled. “First, of all, that’s _my_ friend, that’s not gonna happen. He likes me. Second, you don’t think the world’s gonna notice when a YouTuber with, I dunno, sixteen million subscribers goes missing? A little suspicious, huh?”

“Hadn’t considered that,” Marvin admitted. He wasn’t going to say it, but he was a little disappointed in himself. He should’ve been able to do something as simple as this. So, naturally, he gritted his teeth and turned that disappointment into anger. “Well, excuse me for trying out a whole new branch of magic just to help you. I’ll remind you that _you_ told me to find a solution, then pushed me to use the Con’joi het Oblivisc enchantment when I found it. I’m not a fucking mentalist, I don’t know how this shit works!”

“Well you probably know someone who does!” Chase half-shouted. “So go get help for this if you need to!”

“I don’t know anyone who—” Marvin stopped suddenly. A couple months ago he would’ve yelled at Chase to go find a mentalist himself if he was so desperate to keep this charade up. But recently… “Actually, maybe I could work something out.” He reached for his phone and began looking up directions. “Gimme a couple days. Go…I dunno, jump over a couch or whatever it is you do for your stupid videos. Talk to your friend. Whatever.”

Chase glared at him. “You better hurry.”

“Fuck you, Chase.”

* * *

He’d gone to a party—or, sorry, a _gala_ —in this part of town before. A fancy affair, run by some old man for a reason he hadn’t paid attention to. He’d been in need of a new volunteer at the time, so he’d gone recruiting. As the gala progressed, he watched for potential candidates, and one guy got his attention. He tried to keep an eye on him, but eventually he realized the guy had disappeared, shortly after talking to a guy in a fancy red vest with a pocket watch. Marvin was the type of person who didn’t appreciate someone edging in on his territory, so he did some digging…

That had led him to this place: an old-fashioned house that had been renovated into some kind of business. There was a sign out front that, for the life of him, Marvin couldn’t read. It was like the words kept shifting…Marvin scowled, and let a bit of his magic flow into his eyes. He blinked against the sudden burn, but it was worth it. Now he could see the sign was actually blank. Probably a spell that let the reader fill in the empty space with whatever they needed or wanted most. There were a lot of trinkets like that.

Marvin entered the lobby, and was immediately greeted by a blonde woman of the conventionally attractive sort, sitting behind a desk. “Hello there!” she said cheerfully. “Do you have an appointment?”

Marvin stared at her warily. Her smile was wide, but her eyes were curiously clouded. There was a nameplate on the desk that was as blank as the sign outside. “Just checking this place out. Never seen it before.”

“Well, we’re a pretty small business,” the woman laughed. “We only take appointments, so if you want to make one we have a form here for you to fill out.”

“Uh, no thanks. I was just wondering…this is a pretty, ah, niche place. Who came up with the idea for it?”

“That would be Mr. Jackson. He’s the founder, owner, and employer.”

“Neat. Can I talk to him?” Marvin had never been one for subtlety.

The woman’s smile slipped. “I’m sorry, you’ll have to make an appointment.”

“I’m a busy man. I’m here now. Let’s seize the moment.” 

“Mr. Jackson is very peculiar about his privacy.”

“I would be too. But I have a feeling he wouldn’t want to miss this opportunity.”

The woman stared blankly into space, then recovered her smile and nodded. “Of course, I understand. Head through the door to the left, his office is right down the hall.”

Well, that was easier than expected. Marvin was bracing himself, getting prepared to get rid of the woman, then go looking for this Jackson himself. But just less than a minute of talking later, he was in? If something is easy, it’s either a trap, or Marvin overestimated the other player in this game. He didn’t like those options. Nevertheless, he squared his shoulders and walked through the door to the left.

Marvin only took a few steps down the wallpapered hall before the door behind him swung shut and all the lights went out. He stopped in his tracks and sighed. “Really? We’re doin’ this?” he muttered. As he thought, there was no answer.

Darkness didn’t bother Marvin. At some point in the past, he’d lost the ability to be blinded by it. He could see the hall just as well, though he only saw shades of muted gray instead of the bright yellow wallpaper and deceptively welcoming decorations. He started walking down the hall again. It went farther back than he thought it did at first. Doors lined either side of it, but Marvin headed towards the very end.

One of the doors creaked open behind him.

Immediately, the magician spun around, fingers trailing violet flames. Two men, both large and well-built, charged forward. Marvin evaporated into a puff of lavender smoke and let them run right past the spot where he would’ve been before re-materializing to their backs. One of the men stopped, confused, and Marvin took the opportunity to blast him. The man didn’t even scream as the black magic consumed his body, leaving ash behind.

The other man was smarter. He pressed against the side of a wall, and when the blast came he ducked low. Marvin, momentarily confused by the absolute silence of the first man, was just distracted enough for the one left to dive at his legs and knock him to the ground. Marvin cried out in surprise as he hit the floor hard. The man crawled forward and decked him in the face, knocking his mask eschew.

Even though it was dark and there was no way the man could see Marvin’s face, the magician was consumed by a boiling rage. Nobody saw what was underneath his mask. _Nobody._ Marvin hissed in anger. His hand darted out and grabbed the man’s arm, pulling him closer so that his other hand could wrap around the man’s neck. “Itaqii, ers coimydi,” Marvin growled. Purple waves pulsed from his hands along the man’s skin, eating holes in it. This man didn’t scream either, though he tried his best to pull away as the spell slowly, very slowly, ate him alive, right down to the bones.

The lights came back on. Marvin hurriedly let go of the man’s remains and pulled his mask back into place, making a note to invest in stronger, tighter straps. The hall had somehow shrunk, and Marvin was at the end, in front of a grand-looking door. He stood up, brushed himself off, and debated opening the door.

{Come in.}

Marvin jumped. That voice—no, it wasn’t a voice. It was like a thought from an outside source. If he hadn’t been magical himself, he would’ve doubted he heard it. But now? All it meant was that this guy had telepathy in his bag of tricks.

“Alright, if you insist,” Marvin muttered this to himself, then stepped forward and pushed open the door.

The office beyond was just as old-fashioned as the building outside. The walls were covered in a dark red paper, there was an elaborate fireplace, and a desk with a fancy armchair behind and in front of it. There were a lot of bookshelves, and every one of them was full of books with leather covers that could only be spellbooks.

A man was sitting behind the desk, wearing a red vest and a derby hat. He looked like he’d been waiting for him for a while. {Hello!} Marvin perceived that the mental voice was coming from the man. {What did you want to see me about?}

Marvin stepped into the room, glaring at the door to make sure it wasn’t going to shut on him. “You’re Mr. Jackson, then?”

{Certainly. I am Jameson Jackson, though you can give me a nickname if you wish. Please, have a seat.} Jameson gestured to the other armchair.

“I’d rather stand, thanks.” Marvin walked over to the desk, firmly put his hands on it and leaned forward. “So what’s the deal with your goons back there?”

{It was a test!} Jameson smiled, and Marvin hated that he felt warm and sunshiney inside upon seeing it. {I was watching you in the lobby, through the secretary. I told her to let you in, then I toggled the lights and the door and sent those two after you. I had to make sure you were—}

“Worth your time?” Marvin guessed. “Okay. Fine. You could’ve done that a million other ways. And what’s with the creepy silence? That lady was the only one in this building who’s said a word to me.”

{Well, that’s due to my inability,} Jameson remarked dryly. {But I told the other two to stay quiet. No matter what. I expected them to be able to sneak up on you, especially in the dark. You were fast!}

“Yeah, I have permanent night vision. No, it’s not a cat thing, I just liked the mask.” Marvin stood up straight again. “So anyway, I saw you at that special fancy gala. You hypnotized the guy I was after, didn’t you?”

{Oh, Mr. Underman’s Gala!} Jameson clapped his hands. {I remember that! That’s where I got my new secretary. You saw my work, and I’m assuming you were impressed?}

“Well, you definitely did something that I haven’t been able to do.” Marvin couldn’t keep a note of bitterness out of his voice. “And that’s why I’m here. See, me and my housemates have a…guest. He’s very important, but sometimes he…isn’t sure he wants to stay with us anymore. I’ve been using a Con’joi het Oblivisc on him, but he’s developing an immunity. I know you’re good at this. And I’m willing to, I dunno, pay you or whatever to help us out.”

Jameson tilted his head, rather like a curious puppy. {A Con’joi het Oblivisc…the “content to forget” enchantment. Yes, I know it. It’s very basic. Even if someone has mental shields that are practically nonexistent, they’ll eventually catch on to one. It’s not meant to last a long time. But fortunately, I know many spells that are.}

“Great. What d’ya want for it?”

{Oh, nothing much. I’d need to be close to the vict—your guest, so a room in the house, perhaps?} When Marvin nodded, he continued. {But here’s the catch: if I leave my little business here, I’d need a supply of…manpower. To replace that which this location generates for me.}

Marvin laughed. “Oh my god, dude, is that all? Not a problem.” Jameson looked skeptical. “Trust me, you don’t know my housemates. That’ll be the easy bit. But I gotta ask…what do you need those guys for?”

{Oh, various things,} Jameson projected, waving. {Errands. Chores. Bank accounts. Protection. Anything else I don’t want to do. And…hmm, I don’t know if I should tell you this part.}

“Nothing you say could surprise me.”

{I was born in the year 1898.} Contrary to his words, that did surprise Marvin. {It’s very hard to keep looking this young when you’re over a hundred. You seem knowledgeable when it comes to these sorts of things. I bet you can figure the rest out.} Jameson grinned. {Now, while I wait for my manpower to gather my things, can you tell me some more specifics about your situation?}

* * *

Jack didn’t know what he was doing here. He felt like he was in that position a lot lately. The others said he’d agreed to move in with them when they needed help with rent, but…he got the feeling they were keeping something from him. Chase was evading his questions. Jackie just changed the subject whenever he asked. Schneep was busy with work all the time, and when he was home he acted…odd. And Marvin was in the basement all the time and refused to talk about what he was doing there.

“Hey, Jack.”

Okay, maybe Marvin wasn’t in the basement _all_ the time. Right now, he’d just come into the kitchen/dining room where Jack was sitting, drinking coffee. He was tired all the time lately, and trying to remedy that with caffeine. “Oh, hey Marv,” he yawned. “How’re’ya?”

“Pretty good,” Marvin said. “Hey, I want you to meet someone.”

“Really? Who—” Jack blinked. The newcomer looked exactly like him (and all the rest of them, honestly) but with a mustache and a snazzy outfit. He waved at Jack, beaming.

“This is Jameson,” Marvin explained. “James, this is Jack. Jameson is a friend of mine from work, and since he recently lost his house I offered to let him stay with us. We needed more rent help, anyway.”

{It’s so good to meet you! Marvin’s told me all about you.}

“What the fuck?!” Jack nearly knocked over his coffee mug in shock.

“Oh, ah, Jameson’s mute,” Marvin winced, awkward. “But it’s okay, ‘cause he taught himself telepathy. So…you should get used to that.”

“Oh. Okay. I get it. Yeah.” Jack laughed nervously. “Your work is magic, so there’s some-some magic involved here. Okay.”

“I’m goin’ downstairs to the library now.” Marvin turned around. “I’ll let you two get to know each other.”

Jameson took a seat at the dining table across from Jack. {You don’t have to be nervous. I’m not a mind reader or anything.}

“Oh damn, that’d be helpful,” Jack said with another nervous laugh. “You’d never have to guess what I was thinking.”

{Unfortunately, I’m stuck with the old-fashioned way: asking.} Jameson smiled gently. {You looked pretty deep in your thoughts when Marvin and I came in. Would you take a penny for them?}

“I mean, I dunno…” Jack trailed off. Jameson was giving him the most adorable, wide-eyed curious expression. He couldn’t say no to that face. “Well…I was thinking about…my friend…”

{Which one?}

“Oh, uh, it-it’s a little difficult to explain. I mean, you know Marv and you obviously know magic, but still…his name is Anti. He’s—actually, I don’t know what he is. He’s electric, somehow, and he’s definitely not human. Usually when I leave home he’s able to find me pretty quickly and he sorta, just, pops in to check on me, but…I haven’t seen him. I’m…kinda worried.”

{Why would you be worried about him?} Jameson asked. His mental voice seemed to have changed, sounding a bit closer to Jack’s own. {After what he did on Halloween?}

“Oh, uh, Marvin told you about that? I…yeah, I’m kinda pissed at him. But maybe I just need to talk to him? He has to have had a good reason.”

{But what if he doesn’t?}

“I…” Jack yawned. He was feeling even more tired than he was before. “He has to…he has to…” {But wasn’t Anti a bit chaotic like that? He didn’t always do things with reason.} “Or…maybe he doesn’t have one…He’s a bit chaotic like that.”

{I see, I see. When did you meet him?}

“I was…” There seemed to be a haze over his memories. Jack struggled to remember, {but he couldn’t.} “I don’t know.”

{I think your friends told me you met him in October. He showed up in one of your videos.}

“He was in some of them…but…” That wasn’t the {That was the first time he met him.} “Yeah, that’s right.”

{Oh, Jack, I’m so sorry about what happened to you.}

“What happened…to me?” He was so tired, but he couldn’t close his eyes.

{Don’t you remember?}

“Nothing happened…” He was seeing spirals.

{That’s okay. I’ll tell you what happened. Your Anti is a monster, did you know that?}

He hadn’t. That seemed like something he should’ve known. Like an important thing. Blearily, he shook his head.

{Let me tell you about all the horrible things he’s done. Isn’t that a good idea?}

“Mm-hmm…”

{Yes, it’s a very good idea. You’re lucky to have such good friends with such good ideas. You’re all really close. You trust them unconditionally.}

He…of course he did. They were such a close group. They were so close. All of them, friends. Friends trust each other. {Friends don’t wonder why one of them is acting weird.} His friends have such good ideas, all the time, {so he should listen to them, no matter what.} No matter what…

Jack was staring at nothing now. He faced straight ahead with a blank expression on his face. His eyes were cloudy. Jameson glanced away for a brief moment, back towards the entrance to the kitchen/dining room. The four others were there, watching. Marvin was giving Chase an I-told-you-so look. Chase was glaring in return. Jackie’s eyes were scanning the scene, taking in every detail. Schneep was undoubtedly fascinated with everything.

Jameson nodded at them, then turned back to the cloudy-eyed Jack. He snapped his fingers in front of his face and got no reaction, not even a twitch. This was going to be easier than he thought.

{Are you ready Jack?}

Ready…yes, he was ready…of course he was…

{Good. Then let’s begin. We have a lot of work to do, and you’re excited for it, aren’t you? You’re excited to learn the truth?}

Yes, he was excited…he was going to learn the truth…the truth about his friends…they were his friends…didn’t he have another friend?…no, it was just them…them and the monster…the monster…the terrible monster…the anti-him…Anti…

Jack forgot.


	3. The Bad Guy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While out on one of his routine stake-outs, Jackie runs into...someone. Someone he's heard of, but never met, someone who looks like a living computer glitch. Anti confronts him about what's happened to Jack, and things don't exactly go well.

Jackie knew this city was hell. Sometimes he thought he was the only one who knew, who saw the signs even when taking a simple walk. Why else would he be the only one with the courage to do this? The only one who actively sought out information on what the gangs were up to next? The only one currently perched on the slanted roof of this warehouse, staring through the skylights, waiting for those criminals to show up? Either the citizens just didn’t realize how bad the situation was, or they were too scared to do anything about it.

His phone buzzed in his pocket. Thank god he remembered to silence it. Nothing much was happening on the floor down below, so he pulled it out and checked the text from Chase that had appeared on screen: **You coming home soon?**

Jackie rolled his eyes, then pulled off the glove on his right hand so he could type out a reply, chicken-peck style. **No. Nothings happened yet**

 **Im bored!** Chase replied. **Everyone is off doing work shit!**

**Go talk to Jack or something  
**

**Im not at home**

Jackie paused. **Where the hell are u then???** He thought he knew.

The little typing bubbles stayed for a while before he got Chase’s reply. **I dunno the name of the place. Its on Forest Ave. Prices are low so i checked it out. But im still bored drinking alone! Cmon and join me here. Besides didnt you say theyd meet at 11? Its 1230 now and if their not there their probably not coming.**

 ***They’re, dude** Jackie glanced back through the skylight. It was true. Members of the Spotted Snakes gang were supposed to meet here at eleven to discuss weapon arrangements. Jackie had even heard there was going to be one of the leaders there. It would’ve been a perfect opportunity to eliminate them, but they hadn’t appeared, and by this point it was just insane for every member to be an hour and a half late. Something must’ve been up. Jackie sent another text to Chase: **OK, Im gonna go down and check it out. If I find nothing Ill meet u there.**

**Whoo! Jackies going out on the town! :D  
**

**Night on the town! But dont count on it yet, still might be something up. Text u later** Jackie shut off his phone. The skylight was unlocked, as he’d checked two hours ago, so he eased it open. There was a quite a drop to the floor of the warehouse, but luckily he’d prepared for these situations. His belt had a cable with a hook, for climbing easily. Jackie unwound the cable, hooked it around the edge of the skylight, and gently lowered himself down. The moment his feet touched solid ground he yanked on the cable until it unhooked, then retracted it back into his belt.

It looked like a normal warehouse. Huge storage boxes and crates were stacked along the walls and in rows, with a big empty space in the middle where Jackie had landed . There were long metal rafters holding up the slanted ceiling. A few of the large industrial lights were on, casting an eerie glow over the stacks. That alone must’ve been a sign someone was here, but they’d been on since before Jackie had arrived. Maybe they were on a timer?

Well, even if the gang wasn’t here, he might as well look for evidence. Maybe they had some of those alleged weapons stored in those boxes that he could get rid of. The warehouse could go too, they’ll lose a place to meet.

Jackie walked over to the nearest crate. It would be hard to open, even for him, but luckily someone had conveniently left a crowbar on top of it, maybe planning to open it later. Jackie picked it up and, with no small effort, pried the crate open. Nothing was in this one, just a bunch of loose packing peanuts.

One of the lights overhead flickered and died. That was…weird. There must’ve been a whole shitload of lightbulbs inside it, they couldn’t have all gone out at once. Jackie glanced toward it, but couldn’t see anything from this far away. He shrugged it off and moved on to the next crate, also empty. As were the third, fourth, and fifth one.

He had the strangest feeling someone was watching him. At first he put it down to paranoia, but as time went on the feeling only intensified. He stopped his attack on the crates and looked around. He couldn’t _see_ anybody, but that didn’t mean nobody was there. Jackie shouldered the crowbar and stalked away, determined to find out if somebody was actually watching him, or if he was just going crazy.

Another light flickered off. The stacks of boxes were casting long shadows, where anyone could be hiding. Jackie didn’t like it, but he took advantage of it when he could, keeping to the edges of the stacks where the shadows were deepest. No one would see him coming, if anyone was indeed there.

A third light died, this time the one directly above him. And now Jackie was suspicious. Things like that don’t just happen. He glared up at the light, and caught a bit of movement high above. Something…slithery, like a flag in the wind. It definitely wasn’t a loose wire or anything with a normal explanation. Jackie tightened his grip on the crowbar. It wouldn’t do any good from down here, but just in case. “Hey!” he shouted. “If anyone’s up there, I can see you! Why are you hiding?”

There was no doubt about it this time: something big, person-sized, moved on top of the lighting fixture. Whoever it was, they didn’t answer.

“Your cover’s blown!” Jackie said. “And you’ll have to get down at some point. I can wait. Or you can just answer me.”

Nothing for a moment. Then out of nowhere, a person-shaped shadow leaped from the light and landed smoothly on one of the rafters. Something fluttered behind them, probably a piece of clothing. Jackie gaped. How…?

“You’ve got me,” a voice said. Jackie jumped. It sounded like it was right beside him and far away at the same time. And it also seemed familiar for some reason. “What are you going to do now, Jackieboy? Arrest me? Or am I too dange͡ro͟us͏ for that?”

“I don’t even know who you are,” Jackie said cautiously. His eyes followed as the shape of the person jumped to another rafter. They—he?—shouldn’t have made that distance. It was much too far. And that voice…if Jackie hadn’t been living with Marvin, unfortunately, for the past year or so, he would’ve been so confused right now. But now he just suspected magic.

“You’ve heard of me,” the voice said. “But we’ve never met. You’d recognize my name if I told you.”

“Then why don’t you tell me?” Jackie asked. “I’m sure we can come to a…an agreement.”

The voice chuckled. “Like the agreement you have with your roommates? You look the other way, and they’ll help you get rid of troublesome tricksters? For someone who brags about his strong morals you sure like to let them bend.”

“How do you know about that?!” Jackie demanded. Then he reconsidered. “I—I mean, not the thing about morals. You’re wrong about that. I mean that I have roommates, and an arrangement.”

“I know a lot about you, Ja̶c͝ki̛ebo͟y.” The voice spat his name out like it tasted bitter. “And I don’t like any of it.”

Jackie growled. “Easy to say from up there. But if you were down on my level, I’d set you straight.”

“Ok̵ay̴,” the voice said, amused. Jackie wasn’t sure what exactly happened next. The shadowy hint of a person was suddenly not in the rafters anymore, and with an electric crack like a computer screen fracturing in two, there was someone right in front of Jackie. He gasped and backed up. The other person stayed stone-still.

The dark lighting fixture overhead burst back into life, while every other light in the warehouse dimmed and died. Jackie stared at the man in front of him. It seemed they’d found a seventh doppelganger: same hair, same build, same eyes. Well, not exactly on that last part, as his right eye was covered by a patch. He wore a black t-shirt, blue jeans with holes in the knees, and black tennis shoes. The green scarf around his neck must’ve been what caught Jackie’s attention up on the lighting. Jackie kept an eye on the man’s hands, in case the man attacked him, but his arms were crossed and Jackie couldn’t see a weapon.

“Well?” the man asked, grinning a bit. “I’ve stooped to your level now. Literally, of course, because I would ņev̷e̵r͢ mean that in the way it’s supposed to be meant.”

“You do realize I didn’t mean that, right?” Jackie said. He tried to sound casual, but he was very aware of the crowbar in his hand. “I get angry sometimes. I just want to know what you’re doing here. The Spotted Snakes were supposed to be meeting here, but nobody showed up. If you know something, I have to be in on that.”

“Why?” the man asked innocently.

“I—look, I—if someone is doing illegal shit in a warehouse like some sort of crime show, someone should stop that! That’s what I do!”

“And w̶h͡o ̛gave y̨ou tha̴t aut̢hor̶i̸t̵y̧?” the man growled. “The police? Maybe not the best, but they wouldn’t sanction this. The government? Absolutely not. Yourself?” He laughed. “Perhaps if you’d had the right idea, I’d let you. But instead, you have knives on your person and gasoline waiting for you outside. Do you understand why I had to tell them you were coming?”

Jackie blinked. “Excuse me?”

“Oh, come on. You noticed this place was empty. Did it not occur to you that they were warned the crazy vigilante would be stalking them tonight? How easy is it to send an anonymous text these days?”

“You little—” Jackie didn’t even finish his sentence before lunging forward, swinging the crowbar at the man’s head. But just before it connected, the man dissolved. That was the only word for it, he came apart like loose atoms flying everywhere. Jackie barely caught himself before he fell. The other man reformed to the side, his body still caught partly in that glitchy swarm state.

Jackie turned toward him, seething. “I’m gonna kill you.”

“Yoų'̷l͢l try͟.”

Jackie swung again, only for the man to dodge. And again, from the other side, to the same result. He tried a feint with the crowbar while going for a hit with his fist. The man disappeared and came back in the exact same spot. Jesus christ, couldn’t this guy just stop cheating for five fucking seconds?! Jackie gritted his teeth and flew forward, giving up on tactic and just trying in vain to land a hit. But he couldn’t, no matter what. The guy just dodged, or glitched out of the way, or let the hits pass right through him.

“T̕h̢i̛s ͢is get̡ţi͠n̢g̨ ͟bor͝i̶n͏g,” the man said. And that just made Jackie angrier. Was this a _game_ to him?! Jackie went for one more two-handed swing with the crowbar. But the world broke. That was the only way to explain the momentary freezing of time, the way the surroundings became sharp red and green shapes, the loud hum of screaming static. Jackie dropped the crowbar in shock, then next thing he knew the strange man was behind him, wrenching his arms behind his back. Not enough to hurt, but certainly enough to immobilize them.

“Are you fucking—” Jackie did his best to stomp on the man’s feet or kick him or something, but he got no reaction no matter how hard he hit.

“I hope you realize yoų a͞re͟n'̸t̴ doin̡g ͠a̸ny͠thing,” the man remarked. “Now. I have questions. You have answers. We can play a matching game.”

“Fuck off!” Jackie spat. “I’m not gonna tell you anything, and you can’t make me!”

“You don’t kn̨ow̢ that,” the man hissed. “Now shut up and let me start. Where’s Jack?”

Jackie stopped struggling out of pure shock. “Wait, what?”

“Where. Is Jack.” The man repeated. “I kn̢ow͠ yo̧u ̛k͠n͝o͏w. You’re one of his rotten f̷̴͟r̵i͡e͞nd̶͟͞s̛͢͞ that took him. Where is he?”

“Why do you—” Jackie cut himself off. This guy looked a lot like Jack. Could it be? “Wait…you’re his demon friend aren’t you? Anti. The one with the eye-patch that he talked about all the time.”

“Yes, that’s me,” the man—Anti—confirmed. “And I’m not a d̡e͡mo̡n͏. You’ve talked to him, huh?”

“Of course I have! He’s my friend, as you pointed out.” A smile curved his lips. “Which is more than I can say for you.”

Anti’s grip on his arms tightened. “Wh̷at̢ ar̸e͡ ̴y̛ou͞ ͏sa̡ying̡?”

Jackie laughed. “Just that he’s finally realized the truth about you. You’re a monster. A demon, as much as you deny it. He’s not gonna want to see you again.”

“Y̸̡͞o̡u're̸̛ ̶̢͢ly̶̢̕i̷͟n̨̕g!̵͡” Anti shoved Jackie away from him, like he couldn’t stand to be near him anymore. Jackie landed hard on the floor, flipping over to face the glitch. The distortion had increased to the point where it was starting to affect the world around him. His visible eye had turned green, with a black sclera. There was a knife in his hand now, gleaming and sharp.

Jackie tensed, getting ready for an attack but not standing up in case that provoked him. “I don’t lie. I’m just telling you what he thinks. And if anything, it’s your fault for being that way. I’ve been told it’s easy to use bad memories from Halloween as a starting point.”

“ W̡͢h̵̢a̢̢̡t̡̕͠ ̨͟͝d͡͞id ̨͡yo͝͏͏u̷ ̷͠d͡o ͟͟to̴̷͢ ͏̛h̶̡i̢m?̷̧” Anti growled.

“ _I_ didn’t do anything. I just don’t stop people from doing things.”

“A̸nd how ͢n̴ob̕le͢ of̷ you!͠ H̴ow ͠h̕e̕r̵oi͏c̷!” Anti flipped the knife into a stabbing position. “Th̛a̸t's̸ exac̕tl̕y wh͡at ̕a͢ ̛s͡up̡e̵rh̨e͝ro wo̕u̧l̨d d̴o, s̢i͡t͠ a̡ro͠und and ͡watc̕h b̛y̸stan̷de̢rş ̡b̷e͡ hurt͡.̛” His lip curled in disgust. “T͝oo̸ s͞c͏are̴d t͢o ̸e͝n̢dan̢ger̴ you͏r̵ ̸l̸it͏tl͡e fr̸i͟ends̡hips͝ ̨w͢ith the̷ ͏ba̷d ̧gu̢ys̴ to ̷do ͞so̶m̵et͢hi̶ng g͡ood͢ fơr on͠ce,̶ ̵t͟h̕en?!”

“I do good things all the time!” Jackie protested. “The streets are safer with me out on them.”

“N̴o,̧ ͝th̶ey͡'͠re̕ ̕f͡uck͡in͟g̢ worse be͟ca͏use anyo̕ne̶ cou͞l̨d b͢e ͟dragged̷ ͠i͝ntơ an̵ ̵a͞lley ̶a̵nd ͟int͟err̡ǫga͡ted ͢be̷cau͝se ̶th̸ey ̛ _may_ ̸be͟ a̧ cri͠min͡a͟l̡!̢”

“You know what?!” Jackie stood up, keeping an eye on the knife. “Why don’t you stop accusing me and start looking for answers! I can take it! I’ll give you as much as I get, I can promise you that!”

Anti stared at him. Then, with a glitch, the knife in his hands disappeared. The distortion lessened. “I'̢m͏ ͝n͢ot l͞i̢k͏e̴ y̵o̴u,” he said bitterly. “Sometimes I think I could be. Bu̶t ̨I̢'̢m̶ n̢o̵͡t̨̛.͟ And I’m trying to keep it that way, something your little group is̢n͞'ţ h̨e͠l̛p̷i͏ng̛ wi̶th.” He rolled his shoulders. “I’ll find him myself.”

Jackie was stunned. This wasn’t how he was expecting it to go. This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. He didn’t get it. If Anti wanted information, why wasn’t he seeking it out? In an effort to cover up his confusion, he laughed. “Oh, good luck. Marvin’s got the house warded, and we got some upgraded manpower now that this new guy’s joined up.”

Anti smiled. “Thanks for that.”

Wait, no. “Wh-what?” Jackie stuttered.

“Now I know he’s just at your house. And I know where that is. So, th̢a͡nk͏s͞.͠” Anti turned on his heel and vanished in an explosion of pixels. All the overhead lights turned off.

Jackie just stood there for a moment. Had he really just? And given away information? But he was fine? This guy…this Anti guy…god, he was the worst. He was the fucking worst. Something needed to be done.

He leaned over and picked up the crowbar. Hey, no sense in leaving a perfectly good tool in the middle of an empty warehouse. Then he reached into his belt and took out the flashlight, making sure he could see in this new dark. He started towards the exit, taking out his phone on the way.

 **Chase, r u still there?** he texted.

Almost immediate reply. **Yeah dude! Not on Forest anymore, tho, so I guess youll need the address of the new place**

 **No! Forget that!** Jackie hurried to text. **Look some big shit just went down and EVERYONE NEEDS TO KNOW. Get back home and tell the others im on my way**

**Damn dude whats the rush?**

**Yknow Jacks demon friend he used to talk about? The one James messed up his head of?**

**Yeah**

**Thats the rush. Now i remember Jack said this guy was all electronic so im not gonna give details but get everyone there right now. Call it a family meeting if you have to this is obligatory. Got it?**

**Wow. Okay that actually sounds important. On it, see you later**

**See u**

Jackie exited the warehouse and entered the cool December night. This Anti was a threat. Not only had he interfered with Jackie’s plan, but now he wanted to get Jack back? Honestly, Jackie didn’t mind that second part so much, but he knew the others would, especially Chase. He couldn’t risk getting on the guys’ bad side.

And the way Anti had talked back there had really pissed him off. Like _he_ was the one saving people. Nobody even knew he existed. Jackie knew he’d done more for this city than anyone else. And Anti had talked to him like that? Like he was the one messing everything up.

He was wrong. Jackie would prove it if he had to. He would show that this way was the only way.

Jackie started running back towards the house. First step was to let the others know. Next step? He hadn’t thought that far yet.

But whatever they decided, he would do it. The ends greatly justify the means.


	4. Appeal to Unreason

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It seems Anti's meeting in the last chapter didn't go so well, but maybe if he met up with someone else...He confronts Chase about his actions, but it seems the YouTuber isn't ready to admit he's doing the wrong thing.

“Hey bud, there’s a guy who’s been staring at you for the last half an hour.”

Chase looked up at the bartender who’d addressed him. It was a little after ten-thirty, early in the night, so he was sure he wasn’t drunk enough to be hallucinating this guy saying something that obviously couldn’t be true. “Are you sure?” he asked doubtfully.

The bartender made a discreet gesture to the corner of the room. “See for yourself. He looks a little like you, he your brother or something?”

Chase turned in his seat, doing his best to make it seem natural. There were tables around the edges of the room in this bar. The one in the corner was dimly lit, naturally, but he could see the outline of a guy with brown hair, wearing a green scarf and a black T-shirt. He couldn’t see his face from here, but he could barely make out something on his eye. Chase had never seen him before, but Jackie had given him a distinct description. There was no mistaking who it was.

“No, he’s not my brother,” Chase said, turning back. “We’ve never even met, but I’ve heard of him.”

The bartender shrugged. “Alright. It’s none of my business. But if there’s gonna be a fight in here, I ask that you take it outside.”

“Yeah, fine,” Chase grumbled. Instinctively, his hand strayed to his hip, where his gun was dangling. It was currently hidden by the hoodie he’d wrapped around his waist, though there was always a chance it would slip out. And he didn’t feel like fighting his way through the police that someone would definitely call. “But I dunno if anything will happen.”

“Well, now he’s standing up and walking over here.”

Chase choked on the sip of whiskey he’d just drank. After a moment of coughing, he turned in his seat again to see his doppelganger walking toward him. He tensed, carefully setting down his glass. Anti stopped only a few feet away from Chase, staring with unblinking eye. The resemblance to the others, Jack especially, was uncanny, but there was still something…off about him. Maybe in the way he stood, or the way he moved. “I need to talk to you,” he said. “Somewhere private.”

“Why?” Chase asked, suspicious.

“Why do I need to talk to you, or why somewhere private?” He rolled his shoulders in something that looked close to a shrug. “Well, I can’t tell you that out here, that would violate the idea of privacy. But I’ll say that it’s about a…friend we both have.”

Chase considered this for one moment before deciding to fuck it all. “Fine,” he grumbled, standing up. “There’s a back area here with bathrooms and private rooms and shit. Follow me, we’ll talk in the hall there.” He didn’t even bother to look behind him, but he knew that he would be following.

The back hall was smaller than he’d remembered it being from the last time he came to this place, but it would do. He turned around and gave Anti a once-over. He didn’t have any of that weird “glitching” that Jackie had described, but then again Jackie had said that Anti looked normal at first, too. “So,” Chase said simply. “Jackie told us you were looking for Jack. And Jack told Marvin that you were in his dreams a few nights ago, and asked him to strengthen the wards. Is that what this is about? You’re mad that we blocked you out from mind-talking to Jack?”

“There are a lot of things I’m mad about,” Anti stated. “But I’m not here to throw a hissy fit. I’m here to…talk.”

“So you keep saying,” Chase muttered. “Look, just cut to the chase.” He realized what he said, and smiled a bit, though it quickly faded away. “I’m not…feeling up to any sort of games right now.”

“Alright, then, fine.” Anti folded his arms. “Here I am, getting to the point. You always seemed like the most…reasonable, out of your little group here. So I’m going to try and convince you to do one simple thing: let Jack go.”

This…was not what he was expecting at all. First, he couldn’t remember ever being called ‘reasonable’ before. And second, there was no way it was something that simple. “That’s it? You just want Jack to…what, leave?”

“Yes, of course I do,” Anti said, a note of exasperation in his voice. “I want him to go back to the way things were, when he was actually happy, and had friends who weren’t criminals.”

“But…he _is_ happy,” Chase said, confused.

“Oh my fucking god, I take back what I said about you being reasonable.” Anti shook his head. “He’s only happy because you made him be that way. I know about that little hypnotist you brought in. He’s good, I couldn’t even make a dent in whatever false memories he’s planted. But guess what? Coerced contentment via magickal mind tricks is not the same thing as being h̨ap̕py .”

Okay, clearly this Anti didn’t understand the situation. “Okay, fine, I’ll agree with you on that. But that’s really only there to make sure he doesn’t remember what’s going on in the house. Can you imagine how much he’d flip if he found everything out? You think he’d be okay then?” Chase gave a small smile. “Look, it’s fine. I’m with him. And the two of us are friends. If he gets upset, I’ll be there for him.”

Anti took a step backward, giving Chase a strange look. “You are nǫt̴ his f̨r̸i͞e̶nd,” he hissed.

“Of course I am,” Chase insisted. “We’ve known each other since college—”

“Yes, I know,” Anti interrupted. “And maybe you were friends then, but you’re not anymore. Because guess what? Friends don’t br̵a̵inw̨a̢s̴h each other.”

“It’s not—”

“Friends don’t keep one another locked up in the same house day after day. Friends don’t limit how much time the other spends on the Internet and then monitor every search and site visited. Friends don’t do their best to make sure the other can’t remember big parts of their past that makes them who they are.” Anti shook his head. “If you r͝e̡a͞ll̨ywanted what was best for Jack, you would listen to me.”

Chase was stunned for a moment, scrambling to think up a response to that tirade and trying to ignore the lurking darkness in the back of his mind that agreed with everything the glitch was saying. “I…I _do_ want what’s best for him,” he said quietly.

Anti laughed humorously. “You know? I actually believe that. But your version of best doesn’t match up with the rest of society’s.” He took a few steps closer to Chase, causing him to back up. “What are you going to do if he finds out? If the spell breaks? Just put another one on him, possibly damaging his mental state? Hmm? Or are you going to decide that if you can’t have Jack be your friend, you’re gonna make sure no̢body el͏se̶ can͟? Because I doubt you’re just gonna let him go.”

“I…” Chase can’t come up with an answer for that. The idea of Jack finding out, of Jack leaving, filled him with cold dread. But he really, truly, didn’t want to hurt Jack. He pushed back the part of his mind that reminded him that the hypnotism was a form of hurt already. “I don’t…know.”

Anti nodded, like he wasn’t expecting anything different. “Well, there’s a way you can avoid all that. Tell your fucking hypno-friend to fix all his memories, except the ones pertaining to you and the rest of your little Jack fanclub. Stop convincing him that he needs to stay with you. When he wants to leave, let him. If…when he tries to talk to me again, let him. You’ll still be able to see him, he’ll just have a life outside of you and that channel.”

It was tempting. Really, it was. Chase even opened his mouth to agree, but no words would come out. Because there was the chance—the slimmest chance—that everything could go wrong. That Anti was lying. That Jack wouldn’t really want to keep in contact if he decided to move out. He’d almost lost him before. When Jack moved to a new apartment, they began meeting up less and less. There’d never been any indication that Jack wasn’t going to just up and leave like everyone else had. So, in desperation, he’d approached their newest housemate, Marvin, and practically begged for help. Nobody in the house had gone against Chase’s idea to get Jack to join them. Jackie had put up a fuss, but he’d agreed in the end. And then, they discovered Jack had this—this guardian demon constantly watching over his shoulder. And who looked like he wanted Jack to never see Chase again.

“No,” Chase said, the word lifting a weight of worry from his shoulders. “No, no deal.”

Anti seemed genuinely surprised at the answer, eye widening. “…fine. Fi̵ne. Guess I underestimated the depth of your obsession.”

“I’m not—”

“Oh, I bet you know you are. I bet you know how w̛r͠o͏n͝g this whole thing is. But you just don’̧t c͡ar͞e, do you?” Anti sighed. “I’ll see you again, Brody. Maybe one day, you’ll finally give up on this scheme.” And with that, he pulled apart into pixels and vanished, leaving Chase alone.

He didn’t know how long he stood there, staring at the spot where Anti disappeared. He…wasn’t obsessed, was he? He wasn’t like that. He let Jack have friends outside of him, he didn’t have any problem with that. He didn’t force Jack to stay in the house…except it was sort of implied in some of the things he said to him. No. No, he and Jack were friends, they—they needed to be. He needed someone who didn’t stick around because of guilt or obligation, but because he genuinely liked Chase as a person.

Except…Jack _was_ obligated. He made it an obligation the moment he decided to go the mind magic route to make sure he didn’t ever leave him. It’s…it’s not exactly staying with someone willingly if there’s mental tricks in the equation, was there?

Chase finally managed to pull himself out of his daze, and started back toward the main area of the bar. Great. He just reaffirmed what a shitty person he was. He couldn’t even be a friend to the one person who, at least to start out with once upon a time, wanted to be friends with him. God, why couldn’t the ground just break open and sent him to hell? Why couldn’t he have actually gone through with what he told Stacy he was going to do?

When he came back out into the main area, the first thing he noticed was that the spot he had been previously sitting in was taken by a woman now. Tall, pretty well-built. But he didn’t care. He walked straight up to her and said, “Uh, you’re sitting in my seat.”

The woman gave him a once-over, casually swirling her drink. “I don’t see your name on it,” she said.

“Very clever,” Chase snapped. “You’re a real life of the party. But I was sitting there before, and my drink is still there, so it would be nice of you to give me my seat back.”

“Hmm…” The woman took a long sip. “Nah. You can take your drink and sit somewhere else.”

Chase’s temper flared. He didn’t care at this point. “Or, _you_ can take _your_ drink and sit somewhere else.” And with a single motion, he pulled his gun free of the holster where it had been kept and pointed it at the woman.

Everything went silent. Chase was suddenly aware that this had been a busy night at the bar, as his eyes darted back and forth between the woman and the surrounding customers. They were all staring at him now. A few were probably going for their phones. Whatever.

“Whoa, okay, no need to be so-so-so hostile.” She set her drink on the bar and raised her hands, standing up. “See? Look, it’s yours now. I’ll just get out of your way, that’s it.” Her voice had been drained of its bravado, and was trembling without it.

Chase thought. He didn’t think much, but he thought. And what crossed his thoughts was that he really wouldn’t mind if the police showed up and dragged him away. He was already a terrible waste of a human being, might as well go down blazing. He shifted his aim so the barrel of the gun was pointing at the woman’s heart, and he squeezed the trigger.

_Bang!_

Something yanked his arm out of the way at the last minute, wrenching it sideways. The bullet still hit the woman, but in the arm instead. She screamed, clutching the area of injury, and ran. The crowd parted to allow her to run straight out the door.

“And I was _j̧ust_ ͡fe̴e̷l̸inģ s͢o̷rr̢y ͞for y̕o͢u̷.” Chase’s head whipped to the side, seeing none other than Anti. The glitching effect Jackie had tried to describe had appeared, shimmering waves of pixels and broken static running throughout his body, though not quite as intense as Jackie had said.

“Feeling sorry for me?” Chase repeated disbelievingly.

“Yes, feeli̧ng ͏b͡ad̶ that you were so des̡pe̸rat̢e to keep Jack as your friend that you r͞esor͡ted̴ t͡o mea͏s̨u̸res ̧like t̨h̸is s͟iţua͏t͟i̢on͡!” Anti growled. “And then you go and s̵h̕oo̷t ̕som͟eo̢ne̵ like you don’t even know how f̷uck̴e̛d̡ ̶u͝p that is!”

“Well, we’re not all shining examples of purity!” Chase screamed. “Some of us _are_ fucked up! Now let go of my arm!”

“Uh, n̷o̴. In fact…” The hand that wasn’t currently holding Chase’s arm in place reached toward his hand and started trying to pry his fingers away from the handgun. “I should probably take t̸hi̕s͢.”

“No! It’s mine!” Chase’s other arm joined the fray as it tried to yank the gun away from Anti’s attempts at stealing the gun.

“Why are you so d͟i͝ff͢i̕cult̴?” Anti shouted, shifting both hands to the gun.

They fought for only a moment, each doing their best to take the gun or hold on to it. A sort of mad, dangerous tug-of war, with the barrel being wrenched about and pointing every which way. A lot of the crowd left, or tried to hide, but a surprising number seemed rooted to their spots on the floor. Chase felt the gun slipping. Anti was strong, why was he so strong? He was a bony, wiry sort of person. In a last desperate attempt, Chase swiveled the gun and pulled the trigger again.

_Bang!_

Anti’s head flew backward, scarlet blood spraying in an arc and splattering everything behind him. Seemingly in shock, he let go of the gun. His hand went to his face. “You̷ f̧uck̡ing͡ ba̢st͝ard̢!̢” he screeched, voice breaking and shifting in tone. He wasn’t hurt, just angry. A miracle considering Chase’s wild shot had improbably hit him in the other eye, the one not covered by the patch. Blood was leaking furiously from the socket. Yet, Chase still felt like he was glaring at him.

The crowd began screaming once they realized what had happened. Most sprinted for the doors or ducked under tables, but a few rushed Chase. He didn’t even stop to think, just pulled the trigger as fast as the mechanism would allow, not bothering to aim. Most of them just stumbled back, but one man dropped to the ground like a stone.

“Get out of my way!” Chase yelled,pushing through the crowd toward the doors leading outside. They all gave him a wide barrier, and he burst out into the cool night air, gasping. Without hesitation, he took the left and started running down the street.

And Anti materialized in front of him.

Chase screeched to a halt. Anti was still missing the other eye, but that didn’t stop Chase from feeling like he was on the receiving end of the world’s most fatal death-stare. “What is wr͠o̶n̡g̵ with you?!” Anti demanded.

Chase laughed. “Oh, a lot of things. My brain’s fucked, I drive everyone away, I try so hard to keep my friends close that I’ll end up suffocating them in the end, I just shot multiple people and felt fucking awful but I kept doing it anyway, and I’m just in general a massive piece of shit. How’s your day been going?”

Anti tilted his head. There was a burst of pixels around his eye, and suddenly it was back to normal, like it had never been shot at all. He held up his hand, clenched in a fist. “Here, catch.”

Only Chase’s training to catch things for YouTube videos allowed him to stop gaping at the repaired eye and catch the tiny object Anti tossed toward him. He stared at it. A bullet. Bloody and broken, but recognizable.

“Technically, that shot was a through-and-through,” Anti said. “But I’m sure the owner of the bar won’t mind that I just took it.”

“When did you take…?”

“Just now.” Anti shrugged. “Listen, Chase, I’m not going to lie and tell you you’re a good person. Good people don’t shoot strangers that steal their seats. But, at least you know this, and that’s a hell of a lot more than what your friends got. So, I want you to just think about my offer. It’s the best thing I’m gonna give you.”

Chase was already shaking his head. “No, I can’t. I can’t. It’s just—Jack, I…I can’t risk it. I can’t.”

Anti rolled his eye. “If you insist. I’ll still show up later to make sure you haven’t changed your mind, but that may be the last time you’ll get this, so keep that in mind. And meanwhile, I want you to think about something else…” Anti started fading out, becoming a hologram before disappearing entirely, leaving only his words floating in the air. “What will you do when Jack _does_ find out?”

Chase was alone. No surprise there. He stared down at the bullet Anti had given him. He was sorely tempted to throw it away, but just in case…he put it in his jeans pocket, then re-holstered his gun. Guess he wouldn’t be able to go to that bar again. And maybe they’d have to find a way to get the police off his back, they were sure to have been called by now. They had a magic mentalist in the house now, that was sure to help.

After standing there a moment longer, Chase shoved his hands in his pockets and started walking home. This had been an…unusual night. But he wished he’d had more time to get a few drinks in before everything went south.


	5. The Day it Almost Ended

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack's been living with his housemates for a while, and they're a bit odd, but he doesn't see anything necessarily wrong. Until Anti posts a video on his YouTube channel, trying to get through to him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These early parts of the AU use a lot of time-jumping. Starting from the beginning, five months or so have passed by the time this part takes place. If the large gaps in time bother you, don't worry, it fades a bit in the later chapters.

Jack woke up with a pounding headache. For a moment, he tried to remember if there was a reason for that, but when he couldn’t come up with anything he gave up. Must just be a bad day. He groaned, and rolled over to look at the clock. It was nine-thirty. That meant it was time to get up. He sighed, then managed to pry himself away from his bed. He stumbled toward the dresser, grabbed some clothes, then considered taking a shower. He decided against it; he was too tired and the water would just wash out the color in his hair. After getting dressed he climbed down the stairs to the kitchen. And then he realized he could hear the shouting. Already? It was so early.

“Some of us have a personal life, unlike you, discount Punisher!”

“I have a personal life, bitch, I think the word you’re looking for is ‘limits _,’_ and in that case _you’re_ the one lacking!”

“Well I’m fucking sorry that I want to do more with my life than jump around in spandex beating the shit out of criminals!”

“Do more with your life?! I’d say that—”

Jack walked into the kitchen, and everything immediately stopped. “Morning guys,” he yawned. “Glad to see we’re off to a fantastic start today.”

Nobody said anything. Jackie was standing by the toaster, glaring at Marvin, who was in turn standing behind the counter and glaring right back. Chase was sitting at the dining table, picking at his scrambled eggs. After an awkward silence, he looked up and said, “Hey Jack. Didja sleep well?”

“Yeah. I have a headache, though, so maybe I slept too long. Did someone make breakfast or is it a free-for-all?”

Chase pointed towards the fridge with his fork. “There’s still some leftover eggs from yesterday in there, but if you don’t want those you’re gonna have to fend for yourself.”

The toaster popped. Everyone jumped. The atmosphere in the room was way too tense for sudden noises. Jackie sighed, the plucked the two bagel halves out of the slots, then strolled over to the silverware drawer, grabbed a butter knife, grabbed some butter from the cupboard, and began applying said butter to the bagel. He did this all while not looking away from Marvin, who was standing still as a statue.

“You know what? I’m just gonna…grab some cereal.” Jack edged around the staring contest, quickly getting the box from the cupboard and some milk from the fridge before power-walking over to the table and sitting down next to Chase. “Where are the others?” he asked.

“Still asleep,” Chase explained.

“Yeah, I figured Schneep would be.” The doctor’s clinic was usually open all night, so his sleep schedule was pretty off. “But Jameson?”

“He was out late. You know that, uh…fuck I can’t remember what it’s called. The, like, police charity gala? He got an invitation and went.”

“Huh. Didn’t know he knew anyone in the police.”

“Apparently it’s a new thing.” Chase shrugged. He glanced over towards Jackie and Marvin. “Jesus, they’re still…hey, are you two losers goin’ to actually eat or are you too busy having a Mexican stand-off but with eyes?”

“Fuck off, Chase,” Marvin said automatically. “You know what? I have better things to do. See you guys later, unhopefully.” He turned and left.

“That’s not a word!” Jackie called after him, causing a flurry of purple sparks to shoot towards his head. He barely ducked in time.

“What is with you two?” Jack griped. “Why are you always about to tear each other’s throats out?”

Jackie sighed. “It’s just…he’s a dick, but he thinks I’m one.”

“Don’t worry about it, man.” Chase said. “It’s not like they’re out to murder each other or anything. It’s…well, maybe I should have done a personality assessment for potential roommates. They’re too different.” He shoved a bit of breakfast into his mouth before continuing. “Anyway, what were you planning on doing today? More recording, or do you want to go down to the shop with me?”

“Probably just the first thing.” Jack sighed. “But god, that’s gonna be hard with this headache.”

“You can do it, man! I believe you can power through it!”

“Thanks, dude.” Jack rubbed his head. “Guess I’ll have to, huh?”

“Yeah. But it’ll be okay. I promise.”

After a bit, Jack went back upstairs. Chase immediately turned to Jackie. “Dude, if you’re going to shout at Marvin, can you shout things that _won’t_ clue Jack in?” he hissed.

“What? What did I say?”

“It was what you were about to say. You were like, ‘more out of life, I’ll say that’ and then you stopped when Jack came in and I just know if he hadn’t you were gonna end up mentioning Marvin’s…you know.”

“Oh, you mean murdering people and worse in the basement?!”

“Yes, that’s exactly what I mean!” Chase coughed, uncomfortable. “Look, I get it, Marvin’s…yeah…but Jack can’t find out! He’ll freak, and you know that! Plus, you’re giving Jameson extra work and he has a life outside of us. I don’t think it’s a good idea to piss him off when he could decide to leave at any time.”

Jackie thought about this, then sighed. “Yeah, you’re right. But if I have to listen to him brag about his ‘discoveries’ one more time…” He didn’t finish the threat, just clenched his fist like he was dramatically squashing a bug.

Chase rolled his eyes. “You don’t have this problem with Schneep,” he muttered.

“Th-that—that’s different! Henrik’s a doctor, we need him. And he’s all…well…y’know, so I can’t blame him. Plus, _he_ doesn’t call me a no-good do-gooder under his breath every time he sees me.” Jackie took a bite out of his bagel. “I’m goin’ upstairs to check the web, text me if you need anything.”

Chase gave a little salute. “Will do, Mr. Boy Man.”

* * *

Jack took a break from recording around noon, coming back downstairs for a quick lunch before heading on to the next game. He passed Schneep and Jameson in the living room, the former curled up on a couch with headphones and his phone and the latter sitting in an armchair with a book. They weren’t talking, though for all he knew Jameson actually was but he was projecting to Schneep alone. Jack waved to them, but neither responded. That was okay. He made himself a quick sandwich/chips combo, ate fast, then went back upstairs.

“Jack! Wait a moment.”

Jack stopped where he was on the staircase, looking back down. “Yeah, doc?”

“You were not planning on going to the Pax this year, were you?”

“Uh…” Jack bit his lip, trying to remember. “No, I…I think I decided there was too much to do here, and travel was too hard.” He gripped the banister tightly. He was feeling dizzy all of a sudden, his vision going in spirals. “Anyway, why?”

“Well..” Schneep held his phone up for Jack to see. “…because there is now a video on your channel called ‘Pax Special Announcement/Surprise.’”

Jack felt his heart stop. “I…didn’t upload that. You don’t think…?”

“It is possible. I have not watched it yet. Do you want to join me?”

“Yeah. Yeah, that’ll be good.” Jack climbed back down the stairs, settling on the couch next to Schneep, leaning over his shoulder to stare at the tiny screen of the phone.

The video started out…normal. Jack, or someone who looked like Jack, began by saying “Well hello there! Before we get right into this, I just want to come right out and say I won’t be going to Pax this year. I’m really sorry guys, but unfortunately life is…being a bitch right now…” A small giggle. “And I just can’t make it. There’s so much planning that you need to put into travelling, and I’m still sort of behind on videos from the time I was sick—”

“When was I sick?” Jack blurted out.

{Back in January.} Both Schneep and Jack startled at the mental interjection. They looked over to Jameson. {Don’t you remember? It was after that disturbing dream you had, right before Marvin strengthened the wards. You were bedridden for a week, it was horrible.}

“Oh. Yeah, uh, now I remember. Thanks, dude.”

The “Jack” onscreen was still talking. “—actually originally planned on going, and I filmed a speci-sp̵e͏ci̧a̕l vide͏o͞ for you guys, to show there.” That glitch didn’t go unnoticed by Jack. “I figured it wouldn’t do anyone any good just sitting on my hard drive, so I might as well post it. But first, you guys have to do something. You know how much I love audience interaction, so what I need you to do is all take out your phones. Or, you know, your iPad, anything with a camera. I’ll just…wait a minute. This is—it’s kinda awkward, isn’t it? But you’re all ready now? Okay, so what you hav͟e͟ to ̧d͢o is—̢” The video was interrupted by a horrible, electronic breaking sound as the screen went black. But the visual came back, severely lowered in quality and lagging. “—place ̸yo̕ur̕ p̶h̡o̡ne̢ in͟ you̷r̕ ͝han̡d͝,̡ ̴an͝d ͝j͏ust—” another glitch to black.

Jack glanced at Schneep, who only gave him a worried look. Then, the video returned, red and green pixels flashing across the screen, partially hiding images that…they looked familiar to Jack. Maybe he played games like that? But they seemed more real than anything. Then, black. Nothing except for a question, echoing. “A͡re you ̷th̢ere?” Jack found he was nodding. Why was he nodding?

And then he was there. His appearance was slightly different, more align with Jack’s than his own, most noticeable in the green hair and the lack of an eye-patch. But there was no mistaking the knife, or the bloody bandages around his neck. “Lo͢o̕k ͞a̵t you al͝l̴! J͏u͢st sittiņg͟ ͟t̴here—y̷o̧u͝ tho̶u͢g̨ht it̵ wa͠s ov̶e̶r̛—no̶t͟ ̷w͝o̸rryi͏n͢g̨ a̵b̢o͝ut ͞a͝ny̧t͏h̵i̵ng͝. You a͝ll͞ t̢h͟ought I wa̶s ̶gon͞e͡…̵b͢ut̡ I͏'͟ve b̨e̸e͡n ḩere̴ this͡ ͏entire ̕t͡im͟e!͡ ̢Kee͏pi͢n̷g an—̶ e͏͖͖͉̗̞y͇̭̞͓̗̰͡e̫ ̮̥̜͖̞͕o̼̗̪̬̻̰̳̕n͖̥̫͍̫̝ ̤̣͟t͎hi͖̥̱n̡̻̞̭͉̲̱̖g̱̰̤̬̫̥ș̜. Yơu͢ stopped̨ pa̡yi̵ng ̡a͢t̶te̡nti͟on!̕ We͡l̶l, I̧ ho͏pe yo͏u're̛ happ̸y. You ca̡n't͢ se͏e the͞ ̛s͠ig͞ns.̛ Thręw m͢ȩ aside! Did̶n't̴ r̡e̵ad͏ t͢he ͝warn͝i̸n̛gs.̸ I'm̨ ͞not g̷o̸ing̕—͠a̢n̷yw̢he̵r͝e̕!̷ ͡I̸'m̨ ͡alwa̢y͡s ͝the̶re, Aļw̨ą͠ys̶ Wa͠t͟c̵h͞͞in̴̡g. They ca̶n̸'̛t͝ ̡get ri͢d ̧o͞f͞ m͟e.” One final cut, and…“E̕nj͏o̴y your ̴'vid̷e̢os͟.‘̷” The words sounded bitter.

A few more seconds of dark silence, and then the video ended. Jack leaned back. “What…what does it mean?” he asked, a tremble in his voice.

“I think it is a warning.” Schneep turned off his phone. “To your viewers, saying he is still there, and to us, saying he can get inside the channel whenever he wants. He could make how many fake videos and ruin your life.”

“He wouldn’t do that.” Jack didn’t know where the words had come from. Yes, of course he would, he was a monster, he was a demon…and yet…he had the strangest, niggling feeling in the back of his mind.

{Jack, I think your eye friend wants your attention.}

“Wh—Sam!” Jack looked over to the tank in the corner of the room. They’d made it relatively recently, because he hadn’t really…trusted them with the secret of Sam’s existence. But he’d decided they were safe. So he told them. He couldn’t remember the actual moment he did so, but how else would they have found out about Sam?

Jack rushed over to the tank. Sam had been bonking on the lid, looking at him. “What is it, bud?” Sam wanted to see the video. “Well, Schneep can bring his phone over—” No, that wouldn’t work. He scared Sam. “C’mon, Sam, you gotta get over this.” Sam would not. They knew something was off, they didn’t like the way he looked at them. “Well, if you insist. Hang on, I’ll open the tank and you can come upstairs, I’ll show you on my computer.” Sam thought that was a good idea.

With a little effort, Jack pried the lid off the tank and Sam burst out in a spurt of green liquid. They immediately settled on Jack’s shoulder. “Comfortable?” They were. “Alright. Hang on, then.” Jack dashed upstairs. Jameson and Schneep watched him go in silence.

“How do they talk?” Schneep asked. “It has no mouth but Jack understands it just fine!”

{I’m…not quite sure, to be honest,} Jameson admitted. {If it’s a form of telepathy it’s not one I can detect. Jack just seems to know what Sam is feeling. They are definitely connected somehow.}

“Fascinating…” Schneep turned his phone back on, opening up the YouTube video again. “I think we will have to go over this with the others, yes?”

{Indeed.} Jameson stood up, then took Jack’s vacant spot on the couch. {I could feel a definite shift in Jack during that video. I believe Anti thought it would help jog his memory.}

“But how did he do this? How did he reach into Jack’s channel? And how did he change his appearance to match closer to Jack’s? Can he shift shape?”

{My good doctor, I think you need to calm down and focus on the more immediately problem. Jack cannot remember.}

“True, true…but someday I want to find the answers to these questions. And maybe I can answer my questions about Jack’s eye as well. Anyway, will you need to undo his mess?”

{Hmm…perhaps not. I’ll wait until the end of the day to see if there’s any lasting effect. But if there is…I think I may need to strengthen my approach, if one glitch’s video can break through it without too much difficulty.}

* * *

Jack was starting to get uneasy. After he showed Sam the video, he’d scrolled down through the comments, reading the viewers’ reactions. He thought he’d done something like this before…looking for the viewers freaking out in reaction to a video he posted. But when would that have happened? He was a gamer, he never uploaded anything this level of shocking. The closest it got was Halloween, but he’d been scared then because Anti was taking over…that… _was_ how it went down, wasn’t it? He just couldn’t shake the feeling of the glitch over his shoulder, but not…in a hostile way…

Most of the comments were very typical. Along the lines of “Aaaaaaah oh my god Anti is here!!! Aaaaaaa!!!” But there were a couple theories, comparing this sudden dropped video to the Halloween one, which had been built up.

Well, if he was looking for theories, he needed to be on a different website. On a whim, he switched over and searched up the jacksepticeye tab, scrolling through the results. Lots more of the “Ohmigodanti” reactions. He kept refreshing the search, looking for new…yeah, he definitely remembered doing this before. Only now there was Sam with him, instead of…but that wasn’t possible.

Then, he came across a post. Just a single question: “Does anyone else think that Anti isn’t, well, particularly evil?” Reading that, Jack felt…he didn’t know how he felt. Like he’d just remembered something, but there was nothing there. Most of the responses to the post were like “He possessed Jack and slit his throat, how is that not evil?” and that seemed the rational response…it was, wasn’t it? 

_Boop._ The sound of his text alert startled Jack out of his…whatever this was. He picked up his phone from where he’d dropped it on his desk and read the text from Chase: **Dude, are you coming down for dinner or what?**

“Yeah, yeah,” he muttered to himself. “Sam, you ready to go back in the tank or do you want to hang around a bit more? I…miss hanging out with you. We don’t do it as much.” Sam missed it too, but they wanted to return to the tank. It was safe, and they didn’t think his friends were. “They’re fine, Sam. If they wanted to, like, murder me they would have done it by now.” Sam was worried about him. “…thanks, bud. I appreciate it, but everything is okay.” Sam wasn’t sure about that, but if Jack insisted.

* * *

Dinner was the only time when everyone was home and awake to eat at the same time, so it was usually an event. Jackie or Jameson usually cooked, and they all sat at the table and made (sometimes awkward) conversation. There wasn’t really a defined seating arrangement, but they all sort of fell into the same pattern. Jackie and Marvin sat as far away as possible from each other, Jack usually sat next to Chase, or sometimes Jameson or Jackie, Schneep usually sat near Jackie or occasionally Chase, and Jameson sat near Marvin. There were only so many ways to sit with those requirements.

It was spaghetti night, because neither Jackie nor Jameson felt like cooking and spaghetti was easy. Jack was hungry, but he couldn’t bring himself to do more than pick at the noodles. He had too many thoughts, and they all contradicted each other.

“You okay, Jack?” Jackie asked.

“Uh…yeah, I’m just…thinking.”

“About what?”

“Well…I don’t know.” Jack dropped the fork. “You all saw that video on the channel today?”

Everyone nodded. “Are you going to delete it?” Chase asked.

“Maybe. But…after watching it, I feel…” Jack put his head in his hands. “I feel…like I’m forgetting something. Or that something is wrong. And I keep thinking about Anti, and I think I have weird memories…and Sam is worried about me…”

“Okay, that’s cool.” Marvin didn’t seem to be paying attention. He kept glancing toward Jameson.

“Maybe your headache is just playing tricks on your brain, Jack!” Schneep suggested. “That is a thing that can happen if it is bad enough.”

“Really?” Jack was skeptical. He would know about that, wouldn’t he?

“I think you need to get your mind off things,” Marvin said. “Hey, Jameson and I are working on something, and we need a third person. You wanna help?”

“I…literally don’t know anything about magic.”

“Well, that’s okay. We just need you to observe what happens, take notes, tell us if you feel anything, like, psychically. Not too hard.”

“I don’t…” Jack paused. It wouldn’t hurt to help them out, would it? {No, it wouldn’t.} And it could help him forget this whole mess of a day…{it seemed like a good idea.} “Alright, if you insist. After dinner.”

And indeed, after they’d all finished Jack followed Marvin and Jameson down into the basement. The other three, stuck cleaning up, exchanged looks.

“You don’t think…this will have any side effects, do you?” Chase asked.

“I hope not,” Jackie muttered.

“What kind of side effects?” Schneep asked.

“I don’t know! Just!” Chase glared in the general direction of the basement door. “That’s my friend! And I don’t know if this new thing will work. Doesn’t it seem kind of risky to have two people doing the spell at the same time? Like, they’d distract each other?”

“I think it will be fine,” Schneep said dismissively. “Jameson is knowledgeable, and Marvin is very skilled. They will be fine together.”

“Well…I guess this is our best option,” Jackie said reluctantly. “Still never liked this whole…thing, but…”

“It will be fine.” Schneep’s voice left no room for argument. “You will see.”

* * *

Jack woke up with purple at the edges of his vision. It faded away. He wondered why that was, and then he forgot what he was wondering about. He felt great.

To his surprise, when he came downstairs to get something to eat before starting the day, everyone was awake. That was something he’d only seen maybe twice since joining the household. Schneep, Jameson, and Marvin were all in the living room, and Chase and Jackie were sitting at the table eating in the kitchen/dining room. “Is there an event or something?” he asked. “Why is everyone awake? Did all our sleep schedules just align?”

“Oh hi Jack!” Chase said. “You feeling alright?”

“Yeah, actually. Pretty good! I might do some VR games today, full of that energy.”

“Nice, dude. Here, I got you some toast.”

“Aw, thanks.” As he sat at the table, munching, he felt…like he was forgetting something. “Hey, uh, what day is it?”

“Friday,” Marvin called from the living room.

“Uh, actually I meant date. I think my phone’s off.”

“It’s the tenth of March,” Jackie said. “Why?”

“I just felt like there was…something I was supposed to be doing. But I think it must be because I’m not at Pax this year. I had my panel scheduled for today until I had to cancel it.”

Chase shrugged. “Well, unfortunately travel difficulties don’t just go away.”

“Yeah.” Jack finished off the toast. “I’m goin’ back up now. You guys know where to find me.” He disappeared up the stairs.

Everyone left collectively relaxed. “Either he is a better actor than he thought, or he really does not remember what happened the day before yesterday.” Schneep breathed a sigh or relief.

“And…you’re sure I’ll never have to do that again?” Marvin asked, turning to Jameson. “I have more important stuff to do with my day.”

{Relax, Marvin.} Jameson waved away his concern. {Now that the spell’s set in motion, it can run on its own energy. It just needs to be kicked into gear every week or so, and that is something I can do on my own.}

“Alright. Okay. Good, we’re all good.” Chase laughed nervously. “God, that was close. We almost lost him.”

* * *

Across the city, a screen was smashed. Then the smasher immediately regretted it. That security monitor was an important window into what the hell was going on in that house, he really needed to stop this.

Anti forced himself to breathe, the strange, steadying motion bringing him back down to earth. It was okay. He’d just adapt. First, he’d see if he could still reach Jack through the combination of the house’s wards and the mind spell, whichever spell it may be. Then, he’d get a new screen. Then, he’d figure out what, exactly, this new and improved method was. It was fine. It was fine. He just had to try again. Some of the keener fans were starting to catch on, though they still thought this was all a game. So that was a helpful thing that came out of this.

But still, it stung knowing he’d almost had him back.


	6. And Never Treading Inside

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A plan of Anti's to confront Jack about his housemates backfires, as it seems Schneep, with some of Marvin's help, has planned a trap. And now it seems Anti's stuck, having fallen right into it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, so, a bit of a warning, there's some creepy-doctor-operation stuff in this chapter. If you want me to add tags, I will, just let me know which ones to use. I don't think there's anything too explicit, I think it's mild enough (and also this is pretty much the only chapter with this sort of stuff, I think), but just in case, you have been warned.

This couldn’t possibly be this easy. They never let Jack out of the house without one of them coming along. Yet, after Anti checked, double-checked, and triple-checked the security cameras of the convention center, he couldn’t see any of them. It was just Jack, doing his thing, talking to fans and sometimes taking pictures with them. Anti kept an eye on him. Something had to be up. But there was no sign of anything.

Maybe he could reach him. If none of the others were about, maybe he’d listen to him for once. There was the possibility that they’d let him out because he was too far gone, but nobody could read someone’s mind better than Anti. Not even that hypnotist. He _would_ reach him. But, just in case they made a scene, he had to wait until Jack was alone.

Hours later, the con was drawing to a close. Jack wrapped up his meet-and-greet thing, told the con volunteers that he was going to walk home, then exited out of a side door so that none of the crazier fans could ambush him. He ended up in an empty loading-dock type area, where cars and trucks could pull in. He stopped, and pulled out his phone. Anti checked it real quick, seeing Jack was sending a text to the others about coming home soon. He also glanced through the area’s cameras. Nobody was there. Perfect.

“Jack̡,” Anti whispered. He saw the green-haired man stiffen, and look around.

With a little effort, Anti solidified, going from static-filled hologram to flesh-and-blood in a few seconds. Jack’s eyes widened in shock and took a few steps back, but he didn’t run away, so that was a start. “What do you want?” he asked, firmly placing his hands in his hoodie pocket. His voice sounded a bit different, which raised Anti’s suspicions for a moment before he figured it could have been a side effect.

“I want to ta͟l͝k̸ to you,” Anti said, hands half-raised to show he wasn’t holding a weapon. “I saw you were alone today. Where are your friends now?”

“They are…around,” Jack said hesitantly.

“No, they’re not. I ch̶e͢cke͏d. Have you finally realized w͏hat̵ t̛h̛e͞y̨ ̴a͞r̛e?”

“They’re not anything, and I don’t appreciate you saying they are,” Jack snapped. “You monster.”

Anti glitched a bit in irritation, feeling the pixels float off a bit. “You s͝til͡l͟ don’t see the signs?” he hissed. “Don’t you re͢mem͡b̨er͞ all the things th̴ey'v͢e done͏ t̨o̧ you̡?̡” He was letting more distortion slip then he meant to; he tried to reel it in.

Jack shook his head. “There is nothing to remember.”

Anti growled in frustration, and sent out a mental probe toward Jack, trying to suss out the damage that was done since his last visit. But it glanced off a wall. Anti twitched in surprise, static and silhouettes increasing. Jack didn’t have mental defenses. He’d tried for so long to get him to build them up, but he was never good at it. And now, he suddenly had them? Anti took a few steps back—then a few steps to the side, then forward again as he glitched restlessly. What was _wrong_ with him?! He wasn’t usually this disconnected from this reality…but nevertheless he gritted his teeth and tried to keep together.

“Hmm.” Jack was staring at him oddly. Wide eyes, leaning a bit forward, pursed lips. All the signs of…thoughtfulness, or curiosity. Totally at odds with how Jack looked at him ever since last year. In fact, Anti was sure his eyes were a different shade of blue.

His legs hollowed out, shells of light filled with static, and he collapsed. There was the tingle of white noise in his head and chest as he switched between electricity and skin at a rapid rate. Zaps of _something,_ something that felt very, very wrong, were rushing through his limbs and head, his thoughts breaking from each other. Jack—no, not Jack—leaned down and watched him glitch on the floor. “Das ist sehr interessant,” he muttered to himself.

Anti’s mind switched off in an instant.

* * *

He jerked awake, immediately trying and failing to glitch away. “W̶el̸l̕, fu̷c͠k͞,” he said to himself. His scarf and bandages were missing, letting the blood from his neck wound drip freely. His eye-patch was in place, though. He was lying on a table. Or, more accurately, he was _strapped_ to a table. The straps were plain leather, but there were symbols drawn on them in purple ink. It was a while since he’d read runes, but he remembered enough to recognize powerful ones when he saw them. He turned his attention to the rest of the room. It looked…exactly how he thought it would look. Like an operating room. Anti groaned and let his head hit the table with a thud. Anyone but him. Even one of the others he’d be fine with, just anyone but this psycho.

There was a _clunk,_ and the metal door to the room opened slowly. Yep, there he was. Wearing the same bloodstained coat he always wore, and his _hair was green._ Like _Jack’s._ Just looking at that made his pixels roil in anger. These creatures didn’t deserve to look like him.

The doctor stopped short upon realizing Anti was glaring at him. He frowned, then rolled back his sleeve and checked a watch. “Very interesting,” he said. “You are not supposed to be awake right now, and here you are! Much faster than we thought.”

“How did you do that?!” Anti demanded. This group was full of surprises and he hated it.

“It was the electricity! The ones you are made of! I thought that maybe if we adapted an EMP it could work. So I went to Marvin with this and asked for help, and he added his magic touch to the device we made, and it worked just like we thought it would, except for less time.”

EMPs and black magic, huh? He’d have to watch for that, though at the moment, he wasn’t sure how. His mind was preoccupied with finding a way out. The runes were keeping him in one place, so he’d have to rely on the same things humans did. As he watched Schneep bustle around the operating room, adjusting the lights, gathering some wicked-looking tools, and messing with syringes, he pulled at the straps. Fuck, this was tight. He was glad he didn’t have a normal body, otherwise he was sure the circulation to his limbs would’ve been cut off by now.

“Aha! There we are. Thank you, nurse.” Schneep finally decided on a syringe to pick up. He tapped it a bit to make sure there weren’t any bubbles. “And now, this part will only hurt a little.”

Anti highly doubted it would hurt at all. But he couldn’t remember if he was immune to whatever was in that syringe. He couldn’t afford to lose his mind right now. He eyed the syringe: how much fluid was in that thing?

Schneep grabbed Anti’s arm, finding a vein easily and plunging the needle deep into the skin. Anti could feel the liquid enter his bloodstream. Well, couldn’t have it there. For once, he was actually glad that he had an open wound that never closed. A slight twitch of a glitch, and then blood spit from his throat slit, spraying the doctor. Schneep jumped back, but the damage was already done. He did not look too concerned that his face now had a red stripe across it.

“Try that again and I’ll shove that needle in̛ ̢y̕our̡ ̢e͞ye,” Anti threatened, knowing full well he couldn’t do any such thing.

Schneep very calmly wiped the blood from his glasses, staining the cuffs of his coat further. “So you can control your blood flow?” he said. “Very nice. How do you do that? Do you will it to move? Or do you palpitate your heart and that makes it happen?” His eyes sparked. “Do you have a heart?”

“Sometimes—”

“Ah, but why would I take you at your words? Humans could be lying all the time, you are not so different. The only proof is the proof of mein own eyes. Nurse!” He spun around. “Get me my slicer and a cup of coffee now! I am about to do very serious work!”

Anti tried to glitch away once more, just to make sure he was stuck. Yep. This was going to suck.

* * *

Schneeplestein was _very_ interested in the fact that Anti couldn’t feel pain. How was that possible? Did he not have nerves? Or did he have them, but they just didn’t work, like his heart? “I will check this next time,” he told Anti, “but today it is time for night. I will see you tomorrow, yes?” And he left.

Anti wasted no time in fixing the leftover damage. Just because it didn’t hurt, didn’t mean he wanted to walk around with a gaping hole in his chest. It wasn’t too hard to reset everything back to default. But he just knew that next time the good doctor paid a visit he was going to want to know exactly how it happened. How, how, how. Anti realized he was going to get sick of that word real quick.

Yes, Anti had nerves. He could feel it when the skin was parted, when the blood vessels were pierced, when the bones were scraped. It just didn’t hurt. Uncomfortable? Yes. Painful? No.

It was the third day—or so Anti assumed—when he managed to get free of the straps. And thank hell for that. He was pushing his limit for how long he could remain corporeal. He was starting to feel the strain between his cells. It was similar to the weariness a human felt in their muscles when they held something up for too long. You could keep going, but it would be better to not. He just needed an electrical current to jump into and become fully incorporeal.

But there wasn’t one.

Impossible. This room wasn’t on an island; it was connected to a larger building, which was probably in the city. There had to be a source of electricity somewhere. Yet, Anti couldn’t detect anything. And his range was wide. Not even the lights were giving off an electric signal, though upon further examination they didn’t run on electricity, but were actually some kind of gas lamps merely designed to look modern. He had to admit that was clever.

After a while, the door to the room unlocked, and Anti lunged toward it, hoping to slip past and into the greater world, where there had to be a current somewhere. The door immediately slammed shut and locked again, and would not give in to Anti’s persistent pulling and banging. A few minutes later, it opened the tiniest crack, and a small device slid in. It looked like a remote control of some sort, but it had a strange, purple shimmer to it. The more Anti stared at it, the more he glitched, until he finally realized this was the thing that could take him out. It was too late, and his mind powered down again.

When he woke up, he was in the exact same place he’d been before. Somehow, the straps had gotten even tighter. Schneep was taking notes on a pad of paper. Anti was viciously happy to see the green dye was fading quickly, probably not even real dye.

Schneep looked up at him. “What is under the patch?”

Anti laughed a bit. “Oh, will you just gi͠v̨e u̶p͢ on this already? I’m not like your other p͢aţi̵e͟nt͞ş, I won’t scream for you.”

“That is a travesty, but I cannot ask a question, can I?” Schneep put down the paper and walked over to the table. Evidently it was on a hinge mechanism of some sort, as with a little effort Schneep managed to push it into a vertical position. He and Anti were at eye level with each other. “I have decided I am going to look at it.”

“At my eye? I…wouldn’t do that.”

“Oh? And why not?”

“Look, do̶cto͢r͡, your head is fucked up enough already. I’m not making it worse.”

Schneep laughed. “You sound like Jackie. I never understand you two, my head does the working fine! And besides, that is no reason to not look, is it?”

Despite Anti’s best efforts to move his head away, Schneep managed to pull of his eye-patch well enough. But only for a second. The moment his eye was revealed, the doctor paled and immediately pulled it back into position. He backed away. “I-I think our appointment should end for today. I will see—I will meet with you again tomorrow. Okay? Okay. Okay.” He practically rushed out of the room.

Anti sighed. Nobody ever listened.

* * *

Schneep seemed back to his normal maniacal state the next time. Anti knew this because his first words upon entering the room were “Do you think if I cut your hand off it will become nothing, or it will stay there like regular?” The answer was the latter, though it glitched back into position when placed close to where it was supposed to be.

The strain of staying in one piece was getting worse. Despite the runes’ best efforts, Anti was glitching. He wasn’t going anywhere, but shapes and pixels were breaking off in increasing numbers. The muscles of his body were twitching frequently and violently, resulting in something that could be called seizures. Distortion was spreading in waves through his body, and it was the worst thing he’d ever felt. He didn’t think it was pain, more like his insides wanted to come to the outside and were forcing their way out.

Of course, Schneep thought this was all fascinating. He kept watching for the parts that would pixellate, then running some…tests on them afterward, to see if the dissolving had affected the solid form at all. He wondered if it was happening from the inside out. It was. He found that out when he tried to find the intestines and only saw ropes of static.

Anti gave up on trying to explain that he needed to connect to an electrical current. No matter how often he explained that terrible, and possibly _permanent_ consequences could happen, Schneep just brushed it off. He was never really invested in his patients’ comfort anyway.

So instead, Anti decided he wasn’t going to make this easy. Every opportunity he got, he struggled. He pulled against the straps, glitched more than usual just to prove he still could, and even tried to bite Schneep when the doctor tried to see if his teeth were normal. But his favorite thing to do was nag at him. Mockery, sarcasm, anything really. It seemed to affect Schneep the most, especially when he implied that he wasn’t a real doctor. The first time that happened, Schneep lost his temper completely and Anti ended up with a few scalpels embedded in his neck and shoulders.

Anti assumed it was the seventh day when he figured out exactly what to _not_ mention if he wanted to stay in one piece. Schneep was on one of his real doctor rants. “I can prove it, you idiotischer Fehler. I have done many successful surgeries over many years, even before I came to this country! You will find much people back home are alive today because of my efforts! At least there, they appreciate my efforts to find the problems and understand the whys.”

“ Yo̴ur̛ ͏pol͢ice ͢r̡e͠co̴r͡d ̵would̸ b̡e͠g t͝o dif̶f͠e͡r,” Anti growled, the words coming out through a layer of interference.

Schneep waved it off, a gesture that was not appreciated when he was holding a saw in that hand. “So there were some people in the system who do not see. I am best doctor! If they do not want me there, I come here where I can practice without worrying about the people telling the police lies to get me away.”

Anti smiled. Or maybe that was just more twitching. “Did͡n'͏t͢ ̵y̷o͏ur ̨wife̶ t̨u̧r̶n̨ yo̡ų in̵?͞”

The doctor went still. He turned to Anti with a look of absolute murder in his eyes. “Yes,” he said through gritted teeth. “Yes, she did. And she liedto them, so that she could get away with that—that _bastard.”_

“Wo̵m̕en ca̴n͝ ̵h̨av͝e ͝mal͠e ͟f̨riend̛s ͟an̨ḑ ̨not̷ r̕oma̕nc͡e̢ th̕e̢m̛,͢ y͏o͠u̢ ͟kn̸ow,” Anti drawled.

“But that is not what happened!” Schneep shrieked. He picked up a pair of scissors and jabbed the blades into Anti’s shoulder. “The bitch didn’t have the courage to fucking leave like normal, so she came up with a plan to get me out of the picture!” An empty syringe pierced Anti’s carotid artery, not too far from the neck wound. “She told them I was a—a—”

“M͡urde̛r͢e͟r̵?” Anti said innocently.

A scalpel found a place next to the scissors. “I am not!”

“You'r̶e ̡r̡ight̨.͞ T̡ha͟t’s w͠he͠n ͝y̨ou̵ ͡o͝nly kil̨l ͏ _one̶_ ̴pe̵r̸şo͞n.”

“It is part of the fucking job, do you not understand?! No other doctors have been called killers before! So the reason she did this, she was trying to get rid of me!”

Anti rolled his eye. “Yo̢u kn̢ow, ̛t͡he w̛ay h̷er̡ t̛est͠imo͡ny͠ ͟r͡e̴ad͠s,͢ ̧s̕h̛e͡ ͡a̧ņd̴ ͢her f͟rien͡d fo̴llowe̴d͞ yo͠u ̧a͏n̡d ̛ȩv̵en͠tu͏al̢l͠y͠ fo͞u͏n͏d you̡r ͡s͡e̵con̵d j̴o̵b.͟ And̸ th̕ȩn͞ ͞they t͏u͟r͏ne͞d͟ it ͠in͞ b͡eca̢u̵s͝e̸ ͠it'̧s f̶u̕c̕k̡ing̨ s̴ick.”

“She turned me in so she could leave me!” Schneep yelled.

“A͡nd she ͞l͞ef͠t̶ ͝you b͡ecaus̕e̡ ̧yo͝u̕'ŗe̶ a f̵ųc̴k̷ing͝ psy̧chot̶ic s̕ad͝is̛t͞!” 

Five minutes later, Schneep had run out of sharp instruments and gotten tired of screaming himself hoarse. He rummaged around a table while Anti slowly glitched the various medical tools out of him. It was slow going. He couldn’t quite…control the glitching anymore.

Schneep returned to the table, which had been switched to the vertical position at some point during his freak out. He wad holding a roll of duct tape. “I’m taking his advice,” Schneep muttered, pulling a strip of tape off. “I’m taking Marvin’s fucking advice, because I can’t concentrate with this anymore. I don’t care if you can get it off, I cannot work.” He smacked the tape across Anti’s mouth and promptly left the room.

* * *

On the ninth day, Anti finally admitted to himself what he’d been trying to avoid the entire time. If he wasn’t able to get to an electric source soon so he could become incorporeal like he was supposed to be, he could fall apart. Quite literally. At this point, his body wasn’t even half-there. It was more like a shell wrapped around a core of vague noise. Shapes of green and black were constantly fizzing away, pixels swarming and never leaving. It took him thirty seconds to form a thought because his brain was so full of static. He couldn’t move—or rather, he could, but not deliberately. Every little ever-present twitch and spasm was completely involuntary.

He was going to have to do it. He was going to have to break his rule.

The doctor came in. He was talking, but Anti couldn’t hear him. He put all his effort into concentrating on watching Schneep, waiting for him to get close enough. He needed contact. Luckily, that wouldn’t be too hard.

It wasn’t long before Schneep grabbed Anti’s arm for something or other. And this time, Anti didn’t hold back. He hadn’t been right when he’d thought there were no sources of electricity in the operating room. Bioelectricity, given off by most living things, worked just as well.

Schneep didn’t have time to react before a flood of foreign energy jolted through his system. Anti attacked his mental walls with desperate vigor, taking advantage of Schneep’s surprise. Mental claws found the smallest holes and exploited them, tearing down the walls altogether and letting Anti in. The doctor stumbled and fell as he tried to fight off the invader, but it was no use. Anti was much more practiced at invading minds then Schneep was at defending them. It only took ten seconds at the most, and when it was over Anti was in control.

“Shit, doc, you need to take better care of your body,” he muttered. “This feels horrible. Do you sleep? At all?” Schneep was putting up a fight in the back of the mind, yelling mental insults as he pushed back. Anti paid him no mind as he tried to remember how a physical body worked. It took him a couple tries to stand up, and a couple more to figure out walking. Even then, the legs didn’t entirely obey his commands. But he managed to somehow make it over to the door and push it open, revealing a hall with a couple doors on either side, ending in a flight of stairs going up.

He had a vague understanding of where he was. This was the house they all lived in. He’d been there once before, and he had the cameras set up that he watched from. This must’ve been the basement, which contained the library, a few empty rooms, and some…storage. He staggered toward the staircase. Halfway through pulling himself up to the next floor, he realized that he never figured out how Schneep had managed to stop electrical signals from getting into the operating room. “You’re not going to make this easy and tell me, are you?” he asked.

Schneep refused. Anti sighed. Guess he was going to have to take a look in the doctor’s neurons. He turned his attention inward.

Immediately, he noticed something was wrong. Everything was…imbalanced. Too much of a few chemicals, a bunch of neurons that were structured oddly. Well. He’d always said Schneep was insane, but he hadn’t meant it literally. Still, that wasn’t an excuse. Most people struggling with these issues led normal lives, and didn’t become freaky killers. Anti took a moment to grumble about how humans were stupid and couldn’t understand simple things like disorders, then remembered why he was even looking at this.

A quick rifle through recent memories led to the solution. A Faraday cage. They were meant to stop electricity from getting through, and apparently that was very effective against him. His searching also showed him how Schneep and Marvin had worked together to make that knockout device. Thank you very much. Anti returned to the outside world.

The house appeared empty. According to Schneep’s memories, most people had gone out for the night, and only Chase and Jack were still here, upstairs. Anti stared at the stairs leading to the second floor. He was _so close…_ Jack was just a floor away, it wouldn’t be too hard to dash up the step and—and do what? Jack was still under their spell. Despite his best efforts, Anti hadn’t been making much progress. And if Jack saw him using someone else’s body, that would just make everything more complicated. It wasn’t like he could force Jack out of here, because he would still want to come back.

With a sigh, Anti turned away. He needed to transfer to a different source, preferably one with an Internet connection. He spotted his opportunity immediately upon entering the living room. Jack’s phone was on the coffee table. He recognized it. He sat Schneep’s body down on the nearest couch, then picked up the phone. Apparently the doctor had taken it when he came up with his plan to impersonate Jack and lure Anti out into the open, then never bothered to give it back. With a sigh and a slump of Schneep’s shoulders, Anti transferred to the phone. Before taking the Internet route out of this place, he left a message:

“You ͞ne͝ed ̵to s̷n̨ap ou͡t of ̕i̴t̨, ̨J͟ac̷k͡.”

Because there was no way he could stay in a place with people like this. Anti had just learned firsthand how dangerous that was.


	7. First Encounters of the Strange Kind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A series of flashbacks Jack had one day, revealing how he met the five others who would eventually become his housemates, as well as how he met his otherworldly friend.

{Jack?} As always, Jack was startled by the voice that wasn’t really a voice. But when he poked his head out of the dining room where he was sitting alone, he didn’t see Jameson in the living room. Just as he was starting to get confused, the answer for the question he never asked came. {I’m in the basement. Can you come down here for a moment? I need another set of hands and you’re the only one home.} “Oh, yeah sure,” Jack said out loud. Of course there was no answer, Jameson told him he couldn’t read minds, only project.

He didn’t like the basement. Every time he stared down the side hall to the stairs at the end he got a crawly, wary feeling across his skin. The place creeped him out, which was why he never went down there. But this past week, he’d been sort of getting used to it. The feeling had been fading. So when he walked down the stairs, he only felt a little uneasy.

At the bottom of the stairs was a long hall with a couple doors to either side, and one at the end. The first one on the left was ajar, so Jack leaned over and peeked inside. He stopped in the doorway and gaped at an entire library, with a sitting area of armchairs, two desks, and a whole lotta bookshelves. Jameson was standing on one of those rolling ladders attached to a bookshelf.

“Jesus fuck,” Jack muttered.

Jameson looked over with a frown. { _Language,_ master McLoughlin.}

“Uh, sorry. But why didn’t anyone tell me this was down here? It’s a pretty big secret to hide!”

{Marvin told you about it, remember? What did you think he did down here all day?}

“He did?” Jack cursed his poor memory. “Shi—shoot, man, I’m sorry. And I guess I always sorta assumed he was doing his magic stuff down here, but I didn’t think there was, you know, an entire library.”

{Technically, it wasn’t so much a library as a room full of books before I joined your cohort. Marvin has some style and reasonable standards, but no organization.}

“I see, I see,” Jack nodded. “So, uh, what was it you needed me for?”

{Ah yes. Come on in, don’t be shy.} Jameson made a vague sort of gesture to the area around him, indicating Jack should walk over to him, which he did. {I’m planning on taking quite a few of these books upstairs, and I need your help carrying them.}

“Oh. Okay.” Jack was puzzled as to why Jameson was taking the books upstairs, but it wasn’t his business to ask…was it? “Uh…what for? Sorry.”

Jameson gave Jack an odd look, almost like worry. {A friend is coming over to borrow some, but she’s not quite sure which ones she wants. So she gave me a list of items to look for. This library is a rather private place, and Marvin doesn’t want her down here.} Jack opened his mouth to ask another question. {You understand, right? You understand the reasoning. That’s all you need, right?}

Jack blinked spirals out of his vision. “Yeah, I understand. What did you want me to carry?”

{Here, take these.} Jameson pulled a few books off the shelves and piled them into Jack’s waiting arms. {And you might as well take this, too. Chain keeps getting caught. Keep a careful eye on it.} He placed his silver pocket watch on top of the books.

“Keep an eye on it? You mean _watch_ it? Okay.” Jack laughed at his own joke and looked down at the watch. It was very well-made, and it glinted beautifully in the light from the lamps. It was emitting a ticking sound, but the sound wasn’t as long as a second. Nor did the ticks match the movement of the second hand. It just kept ticking steadily…tick…tick…tick…tick…

He didn’t register the thumps when his arms went limp and the books crashed to the floor. He didn’t notice when Jameson grabbed the watch chain just in time to keep it from falling too. He just kept staring…listening…the watch was swaying…swaying…silver on a sea of purple…he couldn’t look away…why would he want to?…

{Do you remember how we met, Jack?}

* * *

“Hey, Jack.”

Jack looked up from his cup of coffee. “Oh, hey Marv,” he yawned. “How’re’ya?”

“Pretty good,” Marvin said from where he was leaning in the dining room doorway. “Hey, I want you to meet someone.”

“Really? Who—” Jack blinked. The newcomer looked exactly like him (and all the rest of them, honestly) but with a mustache and a snazzy outfit. He waved at Jack, beaming.

“This is Jameson,” Marvin explained. “James, this is Jack. Jameson is a friend of mine from work, and since he recently lost his house I offered to let him stay with us. We needed more rent help, anyway.”

{It’s so good to meet you! Marvin’s told me all about you.}

“What the fuck?!” Jack nearly knocked over his coffee mug in shock.

“Oh, ah, Jameson’s mute,” Marvin winced, awkward. “But it’s okay, ‘cause he taught himself telepathy. So…you should get used to that.”

“Oh. Okay. I get it. Yeah.” Jack laughed nervously. “Your work is magic, so there’s some-some magic involved here. Okay.”

“I’m goin’ downstairs to the library now.” Marvin turned around. “I’ll let you two get to know each other.”

* * *

{We had a nice, pleasant chat. Remember that? Yes, I see you nodding. The details escape you, but that’s okay. It’s to be expected with your memory problems. We warmed up to each other immediately. That’s all that matters. What about Marvin? How did you meet him?}

* * *

“You have _another_ new roommate?” Jack raised his eyebrow. “Aren’t two enough?”

“Yes, well, unfortunately the house is undergoing…ah, I do not remember the word.” Schneep set his drink down with one hand and snapped the fingers on the other. “The—where your living space is getting fixed up. Not repairs, but there is another R to start…”

Jack’s brows furrowed. “Renovations?”

“That’s the one!” Schneep pointed at him triumphantly. “Also, Jackie has lost his job, and there is less money. We will need more rent anyway.”

“And…you want me to meet this new roommate. So we’re going out for drinks. Not, like, alcohol or anything. Like soda.” Jack shook his cup, rattling the ice. “And at night.”

Schneep made an unusual huffing sound. “It was not my idea. But I do not mind so much, I think. This place is empty at night, and that is…a good thing in this case.”

Jack’s question died on his tongue when the door to the restaurant opened and a strange man walked in. He was wearing a black cape, and a black mask shaped like a cat with the card suits on its forehead. His blue-green eyes locked on the table where Jack and Schneep were sitting, and he grabbed a chair from another table, dragging it over to them. He sat down, arms folded on the table, staring at. “You must be Jack,” he said coolly. “I’m Marvin.”

“O-oh. Hi, it’s nice to meet you.” Something about this guy was putting Jack on edge. It was like an electric sort of feeling, something similar to what he felt around {/ / / /}. But more…hostile. The edges of scars peeking out from under the mask did not help this impression at all.

“Yeah, same. Did you guys already order?”

“Yes, yes we did. It is serve-yourself here.” Schneep pointed over to the machines. “After you buy, of course.”

“Fuck. Fine, I guess I’ll be right back.” Marvin grumbled, standing up. With an over-dramatic swish of the cape, he stalked away.

Jack stared after him, then slowly turned to Schneep. “What’s the deal with him?”

Schneep took a sip of his drink through the straw. “You mean the mask and cape? He is a magician of some sort, and he likes the attention, I think. I have not seen him take those off yet.”

“…ah.” Jack turned his attention to the counter where Marvin was ordering. Or, uh, actually it looked like he was snapping at the serving girl, who looked kind of scared. After a while there was an exchange of money, then Marvin walked back over to the table, landing in the chair once more. “You forgot your drink,” Jack said tentatively.

Marvin glared at him, then snapped his fingers. A cup appeared in front of him in a puff of lavender smoke. “That drink, you mean?”

Jack gaped. He’d seen {/ / / /} summon objects before, but that was different. {/ /} wasn’t {/ / / / /}, and Marvin clearly was. “S-so…Henrik said you were a magician, but I was picturing, like, card tricks.”

“Tried those. Sucked at them. But they helped me realize my true potential, so I’m glad I took them up.”

A few moments of silence passed. Jack kept watching Marvin, who was still making him a bit…mildly freaked out. “And, uh, how did you meet the other guys?” he finally asked.

Marvin snorted. “Went to a party. That gun-toting idiot was causing a scene there. Caught my attention. That’s the gist of it.”

Jack stared at him. “What gun-toting idiot?”

* * *

{That didn’t happen. No, no, listen to me, your memory is fading again, friend. There was nothing said about a gun, he just mentioned Chase. There was no awkward conversation afterward. Marvin seemed angry and antisocial, I’ll give you that. But he didn’t scare the serving girl, you were just projecting your own uneasiness. See, let’s go over it again…yes, you know I’m right. Now, let’s talk about the doctor. Do you recall your first encounter?}

* * *

“I hope you don’t mind that I invited someone else over,” Jackie said.

Jack looked up from where he was busy setting up the Xbox. {/ / / /} was also helping; the console had a {/ / / / / /} recently and needed to be fixed. But Jackie, of course, didn’t know about {/ / / /}. “The way you say that makes me think it’s not Chase,” Jack replied.

“Uh…no…” Jackie smiled nervously. “But I think you’ll like him. His name’s Henrik, he’s the one who helped me out after I got injured on the job.”

“Oh yeah. That, uh, clinic doctor, right? Still think you should’ve gone to the hospital.”

“They don’t offer health insurance, I couldn’t afford a visit there.”

“That’s ridiculous. What are we, in America?”

Before Jackie could laugh or sigh in disappointment, there was a knock at the apartment door. Jackie sprang to action, jumping off the couch. “I got it,” he said, crossing the room and pulling open the door.

“Hello!” A cheerful man in a blue sweater and glasses entered the room. “You must be the Jack that Jackie has told me about? You are very nice to meet!”

Jack stared. This was the fourth person he’d ever met who looked weirdly like him, though he wasn’t sure {/ / / /} counted, so technically he was the third. Then he realized he was letting the pause stretch uncomfortable long, so he smiled warmly. “Yeah, man, it’s nice to meet you too.” He took the hand Henrik was offering and shook it. “You’re Henrik, right?”

“Indeed, I am the doctor Henrik von Schneeplestein, though if you wish you can call me Schneep, some of my friends do.” Schneep was smiling pretty wide, clearly excited. He also smelled of a strong cologne…though Jack could’ve sworn there was an undercurrent of something fouler.

“Well, then that’s what I’ll do. A friend of Jackie’s is a friend of mine.” Jack let go of Schneep’s hand—or more like he extracted it from his grip—and gestured toward the Xbox. “We were just setting up. You hungry or anything? I can get snacks.”

“No, no, I am fine.” Schneep seemed too full of energy to stand still, constantly bouncing on his feet and tugging on the edge of his sleeves. “Unless you have any coffee, then I would enjoy some.”

Having just noted the excitable energy the doctor was giving off, Jack laughed a little. “You, uh, you sure that’s a good idea? You seem kind of hyper.”

“Nonsense, I am perfectly okay!”

Jackie cut in. “Hey Jack, I advise you to not give him coffee in this mood. Unless you want him to break your controller by pushing the buttons too hard.”

“That was one time I broke your remote and it was one button only!”

“Hmmm, yeah, I’ll not take a chance. Anyway, lemme finish this up real quick.” Jack turned his attention back to the Xbox. The ring was blinking rapidly, probably a sign of {/ / / /} being annoyed. He swatted at the box to remind {/ / /} that they needed to fix it and not worry about the new guy. While he worked, Jack decided to make conversation. “So, you’re a doctor, huh?”

“That is correct! I am the best doctor, the best in the business!”

“Nice confidence. Why’d you choose that career? Doesn’t it take, like, a shit ton of work?”

“Oh, yes it did. But I think it was worth it.” Schneep finally settled down on the couch, though his legs continued to bounce restlessly. “I am very curious man, I always have been, I know this. And so I thought, what is there to learn more about than ourselves? Nothing, nothing! There are so many things that we cannot cure yet, so many we can treat but not eliminate! But there is nothing we cannot do if we are willing to take the needed steps and I think that is great value of humanity. I am perhaps a bit more willing than some of my colleagues back home were, ha! I will show them here. I think being the world’s best doctor is also something I just enjoy to do, you understand? Not only to know we are helping people, but also the process of the doing itself.”

“If you say so, man. Personally, I don’t think I could do all the surgeries and stuff like that.” Jack powered on the console. “Hey, I think I fixed it.”

Schneep tilted his head curiously. “I think the surgeries are my favorite part, you see—”

“Great, now that it’s fixed we can finally get started.” Jackie seemed to be in a hurry to interrupt. “Jack, toss me that controller.”

* * *

{Your memory is quite good on this occasion. But I think you’re misremembering the smell of the doctor’s cologne. There was nothing foul there at all. And Jackie was not in a hurry to interrupt, merely eager. Speaking of him, I’m sure you can tell me about your first meeting.}

* * *

“Chase, I swear to god, if you keep doing this you’re going to die before you turn thirty.” Jack’s patience was starting to fray. “And what about Stacy and the kids? What do they think of this?”

“Th’ kids don’ think anything, they’re one ‘n’ three.” Chase’s eyes were a bit fogged over. He was leaning heavily on Jack as they sat on a bench in the city park. “An’ Stacy’sss fine, it’s fine. She knows I l’ve her.”

“Right, well,” Jack said skeptically. “Be that as it may, I don’t think she’ll be happy to have you show up drunk on her doorstep. And I’m sure as hell not taking you to my place.”

“Wh’not?”

Because {/ / / /} would throw another hissy fit. “Because it’s fucking far, man. I’m not paying for an hour in a cab with your drunk ass when you probably have friends in the city. Also I have an exam tomorrow.”

“Jus’ drop ou’, ‘s easier.” Chase burrowed his face in Jack’s jacket. “I turned ou’ fine.”

“Hmm, that’s debatable.” Early twenties, already married with two kids and an alcohol problem. Jack had offered to sign Chase up for multiple help programs, but he always refused. Maybe he should do it anyway. “Anyway, you have friends in the city, right?”

Chase seemed to think for a minute, then pulled out his phone and slapped it in Jack’s hand. “Call the one lab’led Discoun’ Spider-Man,” he mumbled.

Jack had to snirk a little bit at the name. He dialed the number from the contacts, and the other side picked up on the first ring. “Hi, we’ve never met, but my friend Chase told me to call you…”

Ten minutes later, a young man in a red hoodie pulled up in an old car, slamming the door shut when he got out. He spotted the two on the bench easily, marching straight over. When he got there, Jack and him just stared at each other for a while. Then the other guy broke the silence by saying, “Were the three of us clones this whole time and never knew?”

Jack laughed. “Nah, I don’t think so. I’m Jack, what about you?”

The other man gasped. “My name’s Jackie.”

“Whoa, wait really? Are you me?”

“Yes, I’m you from a parallel universe.”

“Hi Jackie!” Chase piped up. “I’m…ffffffine.”

Jackie looked him over. “No, you’re not. C’mon dude, I’m gonna get you to a bed as soon as possible.” Jack stood up and passed Chase over to Jackie, who draped his arm over his shoulder. “Hey, doppelganger, want to come with? I can give you a ride anywhere in the city.”

“Too bad I live outside it then,” Jack remarked wryly. “But I want to make sure Chase is alright, so I’ll just ride with you for a while if you don’t mind.”

The car ride passed quickly, with the two ‘Jacks’ in front and Chase in the back. “So, how does Chase know you?” Jack asked. “He’s never mentioned you before this, and I don’t remember seeing you on campus.”

“Yeah, I graduated early,” Jackie explained. “I’m tryin’ to become a cop as soon as possible, so I pushed myself pretty hard. Kinda…fucking sucked.”

“Yikes.” Jack winced.

“Yeah, don’t take more than like five classes per semester. Maybe six if they’re small. Anyway, I may have ran into Chase…while training.”

“Uh…did he get arrested and never tell me?”

“No, but he got pretty damn close. I covered for him because he just…seems to be making mistakes, he’s not bad. And he gave me my phone number, and we started talking, and now apparently he has me saved in his contacts under ‘Discount Spider-Man.’”

Jack chuckled. “I think I’m under ‘Mr. Septic Guy,’ so you’re lucky.”

Jackie gave him a weird look. “There has got to be a story there.”

“Maybe I’ll tell it to you someday.”

* * *

{Jackie’s always been friendly, hasn’t he? So determined to rid the city of crime and evil. You’ve gotten these details pretty much accurate. But we still have some way to go. When did you first meet Chase?}

* * *

“So, you’re my new roomie, huh? Well, come in, no use standing in the hall…way…” the other guy trailed off the moment he looked away from the poster he was holding and up at Jack.

Jack couldn’t say anything either. The resemblance was uncanny. “…Hi,” he said, sticking out his hand. “I’m Jack.”

His new roommate took his hand and shook it. “Chase. Why don’t you…uh…y’know.” He stood to the side of the door so Jack could walk past. “I’m still decorating my side of the room.”

“Hmm. It’s a bit smaller than what I’m used to,” Jack said, scanning the dorm room. “But I only have to share it with one other person, so that’s a plus.”

“Siblings?”

“Yeah. You?”

“Nah, dude.” Chase took a length of tape and stuck the poster he was holding up on the wall. “You from close by? Your accent sounds local.”

“Yeah, I live just an hour away, but I wanted to try living somewhere else, at least for my first year. You American?” Jack sat on the edge of the bed. The one on the half of the room Chase hadn’t already claimed.

“My dad is. Mom, not so much. Spent a lot of time in my childhood flipping back and forth between countries.” Chase sat cross-legged on his own. “So. Now here’s the important question. What’re you here for?”

“What?”

“Like, college. What’re you here for?”

“Um…” Jack wasn’t sure he understood the question. “Because I have to have a degree to get a job?”

“Valid point, fair,” Chase shrugged. “But, is there anything else?”

Jack thought about it. “I guess I want to make friends.”

“Dude, same! That and, maybe, meet some girls. But friends are priorities. I’ve left basically everyone behind at this point. Starting a new posse. But you’re from around here, I bet you still can keep in touch with yours.”

The lights overhead flickered. Jack looked up at them. “I’ve only ever really had one friend. But yeah, we keep in contact.”

* * *

{I’m so sorry, but that last part is very wrong. You got it all wrong. Jack, trust me on this, I know things about memories that you don’t. And _I’m_ your friend, aren’t I? I can see you’re being difficult. So, in order for us to fix this, I need to see the beginning. Show me how you met him.}

* * *

He couldn’t remember how old he was. Thirteen or fourteen, maybe? All his life, his family lived in the same cabin in the woods, the one his parents would later give to him. There was a rule about living there. You weren’t supposed to go into the woods after dark. Naturally, just starting to go through his rebellious phase, this was a rule he broke.

He kicked a rock into the nearest tree trunk. He had to be honest, this was boring. Aside from the secret thrill of knowing he was getting away with something, there wasn’t much to do. He’d already climbed all the climbable trees in the area. Maybe there were more things further in. So he set off, the evening light growing dimmer through the trees.

He saw something out of the corner of his eye. Something moved. He froze for a moment, then looked toward it. He saw a shadow retreat across the ground. For a moment, in the dark with just a flashlight and no weapon, he was scared. Maybe there was a good reason he wasn’t supposed to go into the woods. Maybe there were big, hungry animals there. Like wolves. Or bears.

Well, he wouldn’t know unless he saw them. So, like an idiot, he set off in the direction the shadow had vanished. But then something moved to his left. Then behind him. Then his right. Something was circling him. He twirled around, trying to capture it in the yellow cone of his flashlight beam. Until he turned around, and there was a thing there.

He remembered screaming and trying to step backwards, ending up tripping over a branch and falling flat on his back. He hadn’t caught a good look at it between the moment it was in the light and the moment his wild flailing sent the flashlight flying. It looked vaguely human, but…almost made out of shadow. Shadow and a bit of green. It hadn’t looked entirely there. Like how if you were leaning on the edge of a riverbank with your legs in the river, you weren’t quite in the water, but you weren’t quite on the land. The visual version of being only half real.

Jack had scrambled back, feeling with his hands desperately for the flashlight, until finally his fingers brushed it. He turned it back on in a hurry, expecting to see either a nightmare or nothing, and was surprised to see…a someone. Offering a hand.

“A͢r͏e ͏you ͝hu͝rt̷?” A broken, half-there voice.

The someone looked…like him. Brown haired, blue eyed, naturally pale. It was even wearing darker versions of his clothes. An eye-patch hid its right eye from view.

Jack stared up at it. “N-no.”

“Yo͠u can gr͡ab͝ ͟t̸ḩe h͏and,̸ ̢it̛ w͏o͡n’t ̡ḩurt ͠yoų if̷ ̷I di̕d t̴his͞ ̢şolįd t̡hi̕ng͢ righ͟t̶. ͢It͏'s͡ ̸been͞ ̨a̢ whil̸e.̨”

Jack hesitated for a moment later, then grabbed the hand and let the someone pull him to his feet.

“You fell. Di̷d ͝I s͞care y͢ou?” The tone of voice was bland, expressionless. The face was mildly curious.

“I mean, if that shadow thing was you, then yeah, you scared the shit outta me dude!”

“I ̛di̕dņ’t m̴ean̨ to͟.”

There was a silence. Then Jack said, “Cool, apology accepted. Why do you look like me?”

The someone shrugged. “You͏’re ̷t̡he̶ first o͞ne t͞o̶ ̡f͢in̡d m̨e i̕n ̸a̴ lo͡n̨g t̨i͢me.͠ ̴I need͟ed t͢o.”

Jack scanned the someone up and down. It was a perfect copy. “What…are you? Are you a shapeshifter? Are there more of you in the woods?”

“ No͝, I'͠m͏ ̧n̸o͏t ͡a s̛hapesh͝if̨ter,” the someone said. “A̷nd̸.̴..͠there’s ͟n̕o͡ ̧o̵ne ̵els͏e her͞e. C̵e̡rt͝ainly̴ no on̛e̶ lik͠e͠ ̕me͏.”

Jack felt his heart sink at that. This someone had been out here, all alone, for who knows how long. He must be incredibly lonely. “I’m…sorry about that,” Jack said. “You don’t…have to stay in the woods if you don’t have to. I mean, my family’s back at the cabin and they could see you easily, but you can come.”

The someone blinked for the first time, mouth opening a little. “Su͡re̶,” he said, surprise entering his voice.

“I’m Jack. What’s your name?”

“I’m {/ / / / / / / / / / / / /}.”

* * *

{This is where you’re wrong, Jack. You know this is false. We’ve told you the truth many times. You remember the truth, don’t you? This creature is a monster. He tried to kill you, and now he’s trying to turn you by planting false memories. He doesn’t need a reason. He’s chaos. Do I need to tell you everything he’s done once again? I do? Then calm down, Jack, and listen. Listen. Listen.}

* * *

Jack woke up on the sofa in the living room. God, he’d promised he’d only lay down for one minute, and then he completely fell asleep. That sucked. He sat up and stretched.

A bonking sound came from the corner of the living room. Jack looked over to see Sam ramming into the glass of the tank, iris wide and full of concern. He stood up and walked over to them. “Hey, bud. What’s wrong?”

Sam wanted to know if Jack was okay.

“Course I am. Why wouldn’t I be?”

Sam wondered if Jack was certain.

“Yeah. I just fell asleep for a moment. Everything is fine.”

Sam wasn’t so sure. Sam thinks Jack needs help.

“Help with what?”

Sam didn’t say anything for a while. Then they pushed it away. Never mind. Jack was right, he’s fine.

“Atta-eye! You want to get out for a while?”

Sam did not.

“Alright, if you’re sure. I’m gonna go back upstairs now. If I fell asleep, maybe it’s time for bed.

After Jack had gone upstairs, Sam sank to the bottom of the tank and curled up. They knew. And they wanted to help him, He was their family. But at the same time, things were getting dangerous here. The doctor and the magician were giving them increasingly weird looks. They decided they’d give it another week. If they couldn’t reach Jack by then…they’d need to call for help.


	8. Point Eye View

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Continuing the trend of flashbacks from the last chapter, we see things from the perspective of our little eye friend, Sam. We learn about their life, and how they've reacted to recent events in their friend Jack's life.

Like most beings, Sam couldn’t remember the moment they came into existence. But their first memory was still very vivid. They were lying on a flat wooden surface, looking at a big metal thing with a fabric top that was standing next to them. Later on, they realized that was a lamp. They remembered flicking their nerve and swiveling around to see a big face staring down at them, and they instinctively knew who it was. His name was Jack.

Jack was ten years old. He was a human with brown hair and blue eyes. Or, well, Sam could only see one of them. His right eye was hidden by a bandage. Sam somehow knew that he was shocked to see them. “Hey little guy,” he whispered. “You’re—you’re alive! Can you hear me?”

Sam squished their iris. They wanted to tell Jack that they could hear him. And just by thinking they wanted to tell him, they did. Jack gasped, and leaned back. “Oh my gosh,” he said. “Oh my god. I just—that was you?”

Sam told him it was. They wriggled. They rolled across the wooden surface. Somehow, they knew it was a desk. Jack’s desk. “Whoa, watch out! You might fall off!” Jack gently reached out and pushed them back from the edge. “This is—wow, this is a lot. Do you have a name?”

They didn’t. Not yet. They told Jack he could give them one if he wanted. Upon receiving this information, however that happened, Jack leaned back, thinking. “…Sam,” he said after a long moment. “Do you like that?”

The newly-christened Sam perked up, wagging their nerve. “Okay, I guess you do.” Jack shrugged. “I just don’t know if you’re a boy or a girl, so I thought that could work for both. Are you gonna…stay here long?”

Sam didn’t know. They didn’t know a lot, but somehow, at the same time, they knew a whole bunch. It was strange. “Well, you can stay here until you decide you don’t want to.” Jack laughed. “I mean, you’re sorta part of me. That’s weird. But, uh, I’ll have to hide you. Just in case my parents decide to call the government about you or somethin’.”

So that was how it all began. Jack repurposed an old shoe box and a hoodie he didn’t wear anymore, making a bed with a soft bottom for Sam to stay in. It also had a lid that he could put on top of the box to hide Sam from view if he needed to. At first, Sam was tiny, only the size of a normal eye (which was apparently still bigger than Jack thought it was). They couldn’t move much except spinning around to look at things and wriggling to make themself roll. Jack carried them around in his pocket, giving them a tour of the house when his parents and siblings weren’t around. He showed them the area outside too, including pointing out the woods you were never supposed to go in after dark.

Sam liked Jack a lot. He kept them safe, and talked with them about cool things. Jack explained to Sam about where they came from. Apparently, this was not a normal thing, and Jack didn’t know why it happened. Especially since he got a new one the next night, somehow. But Sam didn’t care. The point was that they were here now, and they were with Jack.

A few years passed. Jack’s family never found out about his little friend. Sam sometimes wondered if hiding was the best idea. Jack didn’t spend time with a lot of other humans. Occasionally, some that were his age would come over and hang out, but those visits never really lasted long. Sam wondered if, maybe, they introduced themself to at least his family, then Jack would have something cool to talk about. They worried that he wasn’t talking to a lot of people.

Until one day, about four years after Sam came around, Jack started tapping on the lid of their shoe box bed. “Sam! Are you awake?” he whispered. Sam reminded them that they didn’t really sleep, only rested. “Okay. There’s someone you need to meet. I’m gonna take the lid off now.” The cardboard was lifted away, letting in the familiar light of the lamp in Jack’s bedroom. Jack was looking into the box with an excited smile.

Sam was a bit bigger than they’d been, about the size of a golf ball. They’d also learned to jump, and were starting to figure out how to hover. So they leaped onto Jack’s outstretched hand and looked up at him expectantly. “I dunno why weird things always happen to me, but this is pretty cool. Ready?” Sam told him they were. “Okay.” He turned around.

There was someone sitting on Jack’s bed. Someone who looked just like Jack, but dressed darker, and with an eye patch. But Sam could tell something was different. They could feel a hum in the air, coming from the copy of Jack. A tingling sort of energy. It seemed…dark, but not bad. And Sam knew who it was.

“Sam, this is Anti,” Jack said. “I met him in the woods. Anti, this is Sam.”

“ Hęllo,” Anti said, nodding.

“I thought you two would get along!” Jack chattered. “Because Sam’s an eye, it’s like they’re a septic eye, and that matches your name! I think you’re also the only ones of…well, whatever you are. And mysterious. I still dunno why Sam exists, but they do, and they’re like, my child or something.”

Anti just stared. Sam bounced happily, trying to get him to smile. They got the feeling that he didn’t do that much. Then Sam asked Jack if Anti would be staying with them. “I dunno,” Jack said, shrugging. “Hey Anti, Sam wants to know if you’re gonna be staying.”

“Y͏es,” Anti said simply. “I ͢ha͟v͡e ͏t̴o. I t̸hink, it's̕ bee͏n a long̡ ̵t̶ime. ͞But if ̶you d̢on̷’t w̸a͏nt to se͟e̶ m͡e, I can̡ hide.”

“I mean, Sam’s been hiding from my family and friends for years, but you don’t have to hide from me.” Jack’s eyes were alight. “I’d be happy to spend time with you. Do you play video games?”

Anti looked a bit taken aback at Jack’s eagerness. “I͞…do͟n’t͞ kn̨o͢w̴ wh͠at̕ those͟ ar̵e,” he said.

“I’ll show you, then! If you’re anything like me, you’ll love them.”

Sam watched Jack go on with enthusiasm. They hadn’t seen him this animated with others in a long, long time. Hopefully Anti would be good for him. At the very least, they knew he wouldn’t be bad.

And for the longest time, it was just the three of them. Anti gradually began warming up to Jack, reflecting his energy and slowly coming to life. Jack and Sam found out that Anti could affect electronics, including hacking consoles to win while playing fighting games. He took a special interest in computers, liking the possibilities they presented and the way they connected so easily to each other. He even started looking a bit like a computer glitch at times. Sam liked him. He was a bit strange, and they weren’t sure how he felt about them, but it was clear that he cared about Jack.

Then Jack went off to college. Sam wanted to come, but Jack wouldn’t let them. “Dorms are a lot smaller than the house,” he explained. “And we’ll be around a lot more people. I don’t want to risk it. Anti’s insisting on coming, but he has his thing where he ghost-disappears. But you’d have to spend almost all your time in the box.”

Sam didn’t like it, but they understood. Jack fixed up their box bed, and told them they could have the run of his room while he was away. Then he left, and Sam was alone.

It wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. Sam figured out a lot about themself. For example, they learned how to fly. They practiced every day so they could show Jack when he came back for the winter holidays. And something else…Sam realized they _knew_ things. A lot of things that they shouldn’t be able to. One day, when they were flying through the halls of Jack’s house, they got the feeling that they needed to hide or something bad would happen. And sure enough, as soon as they ducked under a lampshade, Jack’s mom came walking down the hall with no warning at all. And that wasn’t the last time something like that happened. It took a while before Sam realized that, while they didn’t exactly know why, they knew what things they should do in order to make things go right.

Sam was really excited to tell Jack about this, but it didn’t exactly go according to plan. When Jack came home for winter holidays, after saying hi to his family and unpacking, he immediately went outside around the back of the house. Sam knew they should follow him, so they did. And once they were a long way from the house, on the edge of the woods, they heard shouting.

“You can’t fucking chill for even one second, can you?!” Jack was yelling. “Can’t let me go live my life, huh?!”

“Not if ‘living your life’ means hanging out with people like that!” It also sounded like Jack’s voice. That meant it was Anti.

“‘Like that’?! You don’t know anything about him! You always run off the moment he appears!”

“Oh, well, forgive me if I don’t want to associate! You shouldn’t either!”

“He’s my roommate! He’s literally done _nothing_ wrong, _nothing_ to make you freak out like this! I think you’re just jealous.”

“I am not—look, maybe he hasn’t done anything yet, but I just know he will one day. He’s got that vibe. Sure, he’s a decent guy now, but I don’t think he’ll stay that way for long.”

“And do you have any proof of this besides a weird feeling?”

Silence.

“That’s what I thought. Look, if he bothers you that much, just don’t come up to campus with me next semester. Stay here with Sam.”

“Ņo̢.”

“Well, alright then. But until something bad happens, stop ragging on Chase. I’ve got to go say hi to Sam now. I…I miss them.”

“You won’t have to go all the way up to the house. They’ve been listening this whole time.”

“Wh—”

The jig was up. Sam poked out from around the tree they were hiding behind, being met with a very startled Jack and a very grumpy Anti. They said hello to Jack.

“Hey, Sam!” Jack beamed as his eye landed on his shoulder, snuggling into his jumper. “You—you’re _flying!_ That’s so cool! When did you learn how to do that?”

Sam told him they figured it out about two months ago. But that wasn’t important. They wanted to know what Jack was so upset about.

“Oh. That.” Jack glanced over to Anti, who scowled and disappeared in his computer-glitch way. “Well, Anti doesn’t like my roommate up on campus. For completely unjustified reasons. Chase is a good guy, and Anti keeps messing with the electrical systems whenever I hang out with him, then claiming that it’s for my own good.”

Sam thought that Anti _was_ a bit jealous. But, they told Jack, they also had a bad feeling. Not like something was wrong, but like something could go wrong at any given moment. They advised Jack to be careful.

“Thanks, buddy. Hey, tell me about everything that happened while I was gone. Did I miss out on anything?”

In the end, Anti admitted to being a bit envious and protective of Jack. He just hadn’t wanted him to get hurt and freaked out. But he stubbornly held on to his bad feeling about the whole situation. He ended up following Jack back to college for the next semester, and for the whole school year after that. Until Jack’s parents finally moved out of the house and gave it to Jack, who decided to commute to campus for the last two years.

And then, Jack had an idea. It was a simple idea, one inspired by seeing others do the same. He started a YouTube channel. It was called ‘jacksepticeye,’ as sort of a reference to both Sam and Anti, and he played video games on it. And…it made him happy. Jack came alive whenever the cameras were rolling, and Sam was in turn so happy to see it.

Things changed. The channel grew. Jack moved out of the house in the woods and into an apartment in the city. Naturally, Sam and Anti followed. Jack started making friends online, and this time Anti didn’t interfere. He kept up interaction with the viewers, gradually growing them into a community.

Then there was a phone call. Sam listened as Jack talked. “Hello, it’s Jack. Wait. Chase?!” Jack smiled. “Oh my god, how are you? How’s Stacy?…Really? When did you have a second one?…Damn, you should’ve invited me to the baby shower…Not much, today I’ve just been making videos for YouTube…Yeah, dude! It’s pretty fun, you should try it sometime…Oh yeah, sure. Where do you live now?…No way, that’s where I am!…Yes!…Well, I’m free this weekend. What about you?…Yeah, that works for me. How about we meet in the park and figure out what to do from there?…See you then, dude.” When Jack hung up, he noticed Sam watching him. “You okay, Sam? Your glow kinda faded.”

Sam didn’t know what to say. How could they tell him that their “something bad could happen” feeling had suddenly changed into a “something bad is probably coming soon” feeling? They’d never even told him about how much they knew, and they figured out they knew a lot since that first semester of college. So, in the end, they merely told Jack to be careful.

But he wasn’t.

Maybe he just couldn’t see. Maybe his optimism was blinding him. But things were different now. Chase had changed. Jack didn’t notice, but Sam did. And so did Anti. But of course, that only gave rise to the old tensions, to Jack once again thinking Anti wanted Jack all to himself.

Still, as time passes, people begin to drift apart. Jack, despite feeling sorry for everything that happened to Chase, found himself spending less time with him, or any of Chase’s new housemates. Sam was sure this was a good thing, but if that was the case, then why was the “something bad” getting closer?

And one night, Jack disappeared. Sam hadn’t seen what had happened, they’d been resting, but when they came out of their newest box bed, there was a day-old pumpkin on a table in Jack’s recording room, and a knife with blood on it.

They waited for Jack to come back. Maybe they waited too long. But they weren’t an impulsive eye, just a patient one. Which turned out to work against them this time. A month and a half after Halloween, they set off to find Jack. They knew they would be able to; they were a part of him, and could always sense where he was. They followed the invisible tie between the two of them, ending up at a big house on the edge of town that creeped them out. They flew up to one of the second-story windows and looked through the glass to see Jack, asleep in a bed.

The bad feeling was there. Like dread, but instead of waiting for something to happen, they felt a confirmation of the worst news. They screamed at Jack, and he bolted upright, looking around the room. When he saw the little green eye at the window, he gasped, then rushed over to open it.

“Sam!” He said the name like it was an old friend he’d forgotten, but just met again. “There you are! I was wondering if I should go back to get you, but maybe it wasn’t the best idea to move you here, after all, we’ve kept you hidden this long, haven’t we? And eventually I must have…forgotten…” the grin that had been on his face slid off, but he found it again. “Great to see you, buddy!”

Jack had a dull look in his eyes. It was subtle, not something you would notice if you didn’t know Jack well. But Sam was on the same wavelength as him. They asked Jack where he’d gone, and why.

“Oh. I uh…Chase and his friends needed help with the rent. And I figured, hey why not, it doesn’t cost anymore than the apartment. I…I should have told you. I’m sorry.” He perked up. “But you’re here now! We can be together again!”

Sam asked about Anti.

“Oh, don’t worry, he can’t find us here. We’ll be safe.”

That set off instant alarm bells. Sam shrank back a bit. Jack wouldn’t say something like that about his friend. What had happened while they were away?

“Hey, it’s fine, everything is fine,” Jack said softly. “We’re safe, and we’re together. You can come inside, and everything will be fine.”

Sam was a bit scared. They had to admit it. But…something was wrong with Jack. They had to figure out what that was. They had to undo it. So, with a flick of their nerve-tail, they darted inside.

* * *

Maybe the whole thing had been a bad idea. But they knew it had been their best option at the time. Even if, nearly two years later, they were stuck in a tank of greenish liquid in a house full of people who gave Sam bad vibes every time they looked at them. They were sure that the other possible futures had been worse, even if they didn’t know exactly what those were.

It was the third day of May when Sam decided that they finally needed to do something.

The house was quiet. Sam was resting at the bottom of the tank. They never truly slept, just stopped moving and went into a sort of easily-disturbed chance. Which was why they were instantly on high alert the moment the house’s front door unlocked. It was two o’clock a.m. Someone was home early. It wasn’t Chase or the mustache one, those two hadn’t left today. Sam curled their nerve-tail around them and waited.

The door creaked open, shutting quickly the moment the man walked inside. He sighed, taking off his glasses and polishing them on the edge of his shirt before replacing them. Then he threw the bag he’d been carrying over onto the couch. It landed with a light thump, making Sam flinch, floating up about a foot in the liquid before settling down again. They didn’t think it was enough for him to notice, but apparently it was. The man’s eyes instantly locked onto the tank. He grinned, walking right over.

Sam didn’t like the doctor one. To be fair, they didn’t like any of them, but at least Chase, the hoodie one, and the mustache one were nice to them, and mostly to Jack. The masked one also freaked them out at times, but he wasn’t around very often. Granted, the doctor one also spent a lot of time out of the house, but he was around just enough to give Sam the creeps.

The doctor kneeled on the floor and tapped on the glass of the tank. “I think it was asleep before,” he muttered. He wasn’t talking to Sam, he never did. “Did we figure out if it sleeps? There are times when it does not move.”

And this small tidbit was a prime example of why the doctor one scared Sam. One, he never called them “they,” or even any other pronoun besides just “it.” Two, he was way too interested in how Sam worked for the curiosity to be merely a wondering. And three, he just. Kept. Staring at them.

“It maybe heard me come inside,” the doctor said conversationally. “I’m thinking that maybe the nerve ending has been adapted to take up other senses, like hearing and smell. No, no, no, it definitely has, it has smelled food in those times Jack has taken it out of the tank.” He tilted his head, watching as Sam rose up and started swimming in small circles around the bottom of the tank, still doing their best to keep looking at him while also working off nervous energy. “It doesn’t have a problem with being in the liquid, so I do not think it needs to breathe. Or maybe it can breathe through this, somehow. But if it breathes, then what does it take in? Does it have a little heart system that pumps the oxygen blood? Does it have blood?”

Slowly, his eyes drifted back over to the bag he’d tossed onto the sofa. Then, he looked around the empty room. Once he’d determined that it was clear of whoever he was looking for, he stood up and walked over to the bag, unzipping it and digging around inside. “No, I know that, Jack,” he said. “But you are not here right now. And so you cannot stop me, can you? You have to wake up and get down here, and not just lecture thoughts.” The doctor managed to find what he was looking for. He smiled, then half-ran back over to the tank in the corner.

Sam’s pupil widened as they realized what the doctor was holding. That—that was a long needle. And now the doctor was unlatching the hatch on the top of the tank. They dove down to the bottom, curling their nerve-tail over their top. The tank was a little shorter than chest-level for everyone in the house, he wouldn’t be able to reach the bottom. Right?

Nothing happened. The tank lid was open, but the doctor hadn’t even tried to get to them. Sam peeked out from underneath their nerve-tail. They floated up to take a better look. He’d…gone? He wouldn’t do that, would he?

Nope, he was coming back. He’d just gone into the kitchen for a moment, and now he was returning with something new in his hands. Sam dove back down to the bottom, resuming their position.

He was talking. “Do not say that to me, if it works, then it works. The same thing will happen in the end regardless of tools. You will see. I know what I am doing, I am good doctor. And when I show you these things I will find out, you will not tell me otherwise again.” He was right next to the tank. Sam curled up tighter.

There was a splash. Sam briefly glanced up to see a pair of metal _things_ reaching for them. They panicked, fleeing. But seeing as they couldn’t go up or risk getting caught, it wasn’t a long chase. The things clamped down on them, pulling them up, up, up out of the liquid.

“Ack! Maybe this was not the best idea, I am wet now.” The doctor shrugged. “But does not matter, I got it out, didn’t I? Though I will have to wash these tongs afterward.”

Sam wriggled, nerve-tail flailing in panic. It did absolutely nothing. The tongs were holding them so tight, they were sure they would have bruises afterward.

“And now, for the sample.” With one quick jab, the doctor plunged the needle into Sam’s body, right on their top. They stopped struggling, if only in pure and utter shock at the piercing pain. Tears began forming along their iris.

It could’ve only lasted a few seconds, but it was a few seconds too long. Eventually, the needle was retracted, and Sam was dropped unceremoniously back into the tank. They drifted to the bottom and lay there, tears mixing with the fluid around them. The lid slammed shut.

The doctor paid them no mind. He was more interested in the glowing, bright green fluid that now filled the plastic part of the needle. “What? I have never seen anything like this!” He was tapping the needle urgently, practically bouncing with a big smile on his face. “We need to figure it out right now. Nevermind that, we can go back to the back rooms without opening the clinic. This is—is—is very important!” And without another word, he grabbed his bag and left through the front door once again.

Sam couldn’t do it. They couldn’t stay here. They’d be no use to Jack if these guys kept sticking needles in them. And they were sure that it was going to continue. Even though it was a large needle, it still didn’t hold a lot of liquid. The doctor would be back, maybe soon.

But how could they get out of here? The tank only opened from the outside. They’d tried to lift up the lid on their own, but it was too heavy, and latched shut. They’d need someone else. But who would help them?

After a moment of quiet shuddering, it hit Sam like a bolt of lightning. They’d forgotten about him. Even though he kept causing trouble for the people in the house, they’d completely forgotten him. They’d been so worried about keeping Jack safe and trying to get him out, that they hadn’t stopped to think about the other person trying to get Jack out.

Sam had never tried contacting someone other than Jack before. There had never been a reason. But now, limp on the bottom of the tank, they tried to switch frequencies. They thought about the ever-present hum they sensed whenever he was around, about the feeling of static racing along their nerves, about dark impossibility and green light. Then, they reached out like they would with Jack, sending out a cry for help, a plea for anything. For a moment, nothing happened. And then, with an electric snap _,_ something connected. It was only a second before the connection broke, but Sam was sure it was enough.

And only a few moments later, there was a _crack_ of the wards breaking, and between one glance and the next, Anti was standing in the middle of the living room, looking around like he had no idea what he was doing there. He looked…different. Not only because of the new scarf, but…actually, he looked pretty close to how he was when Sam first met him. All jagged edges and blank stares.

Anti finally caught sight of the tank. He didn’t bother walking over, just did his glitch thing and ended up sitting next to it. “…Sam?” he asked, a note of surprise in his voice. “You…that was you? I knew it was important, but…” Silence. “…Guess you could only do it once? In a moment of desperation, maybe. Well, are you hurt?”

Sam weakly swished their nerve-tail. It was the best they could manage.

Anti’s eye hardened. “B̢a͡s͏tąr̷d̴s,” he muttered. “Okay, Sam, do that again if you want me to get you out of there.” After a moment, another, weaker swish. “Fuck, it’s that bad, huh? That you have to leave him? Well, fine then. Maybe this’ll finally snap him out of it. “

He stood up, giving the tank a quick examination. He grinned impishly. His hand glitched, and there was a knife there. It twirled into a stabbing position, and then—

It shattered. It shouldn’t have, the glass was strong enough to take a stab. But it completely broke, and green liquid rushed out, soaking Anti’s clothes. But that didn’t matter, as they were dry again with another glitch. Completely ignoring the jagged edges of the hole he’d created, Anti reached inside, breaking off a few more pieces, and single-handedly scooped Sam up. He held them close to his chest, and their dim glow brightened a bit. The two of them were opposites, but they were on the same spectrum instead of opposing ones. Thus, just being close could help charge Sam up. They had always been glad of that. Other Sams had Antis that had the reverse effect.

Upstairs, someone was yelling. Anti’s head snapped toward the staircase. He could hear footsteps coming. “Well, we’re gonna leave now,” he said.

He glitched out of the house and ended up on a city street a few blocks away. It was empty, which he was glad of. He looked down at the little eye in his hand. “I’m gonna give you time to recharge a bit,” he explained, “before I take you to where I’ve been staying. Got it?” Sam’s tail flicked, already a bit more energized. “Okay.” Anti reached to the side. His hand disappeared into a glitch in the world, pulling out a backpack like he’d just taken it out of an open school locker. “Gonna have to hide you in here in case someone sees us. Got it?” Another flick. Anti unzipped the top of the backpack and gently placed Sam inside before swinging it over his back.

Where to go now? Well, there was a chance that they’d send someone after Sam, though he couldn’t imagine what they even wanted with them. So somewhere a bit off the beaten path, but still public. A few of them had issues with being caught in public.

Choosing a direction at random, Anti started off. He’d find somewhere. And then he’d get Sam safe. Which, even though they weren’t Jack, was clearly a victory. That’d show them to mess with his…well. To mess with Jack and Sam. And it was a step in the right direction.


	9. Night Shift - Part One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stacy doesn't expect anything odd to happen at her night shift, but that changes when a strange, familiar-looking man walks in, acting odd. Things quickly go upside-down, and she gets swept up in a fight...with magic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So fun fact, when I was first posting this story on Tumblr, I wrote the first twelve stories all out of order. This was actually the first ever thing I wrote for this AU, followed quickly by its part two. Originally on Tumblr it's simply called "Septics Inverted," but I changed the title for AO3 since it would be a little weird to have a chapter have the same name as the story as a whole ^-^

Even though _The Dish and Glass_ was a twenty-four hour diner, it almost never got visitors in the wee hours of the morning. This was something that Stacy knew, having been stuck at that job for nearly three years. When she worked the night shift, she expected that she’d be alone with the chef, spending the whole time worrying about the sitter she’d hired to watch the kids. Not like she expected them to be awake from the hours of midnight to six in the morning, but it was better safe to be sorry, and the sitters she got usually gave her ugly looks for making them stay up so late for nothing.

Of course, after tonight, she would wish the only problem she had was nasty babysitters.

It was two o’clock. Stacy was behind the counter, taking stock of the coffee mugs. She didn’t really have a reason to, but nobody was around to talk to except Richard, the chef, and he was busy in the kitchen doing who knows what. She was bored. The bright lamps overhead shone a monotonous white light down onto the red and white booths and tables. The plate glass window showed the blue-black night outside. The city was dark.

The easy listening music that always played in the diner was broken by the pleasant _ding!_ of the door opening. Stacy was pretty sure her shock was showing on her face. Luckily she was facing away from the entrance, or the customer might’ve noticed it. Then they might’ve told the manager, who might’ve fired her for unprofessional behavior, then she’d be alone and jobless with two kids who absolutely needed the best in life—she shook her head. The manager wasn’t even here, he’d gone out for who knows what; nobody ever told her. And looking shocked wasn’t worth reporting, let alone being fired over. She tried to ease the knot of anxiety as she turned around to face the customer.

“Hello, welcome to the Dish and—” Stacy froze. It couldn’t be no it couldn’t not here no no no—

“Lady, you alright? Didja have a stroke or something?”

Stacy shook herself internally, then plastered a smile on her face. “Of course I’m alright, sir! Welcome to the Dish and Glass, can I get you anything?”

The man shrugged. “Coffee. I can seat myself.”

“Sir, that’s not really our…policy…” Stacy trailed off. He’d already walked away and sat at one of the window booths. Honestly, there was no reason to stop him, what with him being the only one in the entire diner. It wasn’t like she’d lose track of him.

As she busied herself with the coffeepot, Stacy tried her best to stare at the customer without him noticing. The resemblance…it was more than uncanny. If it wasn’t for a few key differences, she could’ve sworn she was staring right at her ex-husband. Same brown hair, same build, same blue eyes—actually, _eye._ This stranger had only one. Where his right eye should have been, there was an eye-patch, one of those white square ones with four strings instead of two.

Something was…off about him, Stacy decided. She wasn’t sure what it was. He looked ordinary enough. He wore a black t-shirt, blue jeans with holes in the knees, and black tennis shoes. A green scarf was wrapped securely around his throat. He’d worn a ragged black backpack into the diner, but he’d taken it off and put it on the table, where he was now rummaging around inside. Still, despite how utterly normal all of this was…he gave Stacy an uneasy feeling. Maybe it was just the resemblance to _him_ that was bothering her.

But she had a job to do. The coffee was ready, piping hot and poured in one of the mugs she’d been counting earlier. She set it on a plate and walked over to the booth where the customer was sitting. Upon catching sight of her, he immediately froze in place like someone had pressed the pause button. Stacy set the coffee on the table, trying to ignore his stare, and asked, “Would you like any cream? Or sugar?”

“No.”

“Are you sure? I mean, we have those available—”

“I don’t need̴. _any_ thing.”

Stacy flinched at his sharp tone. “Alright, sir. If you do, just call for me.” She forced herself to calmly turn around and walk at a normal pace back to her spot behind the counter. She could still feel the man staring at her. Had he blinked at _all_ during that entire exchange?

She started fiddling with the cash register. It wasn’t her job to count the change, it was the manager’s. But she pretended to be busy. There was no doubt about it, this guy was giving off a vibe that she wasn’t fond of. She could almost feel it, like static electricity. Or maybe that was just the electric humming from the overhead lights. It was usually there, but Stacy noticed it kicked up. Maybe something was wrong with the wiring? If it broke, would they take the replacement costs from her paycheck? 

He was still watching her. She glanced over and saw him sitting unnaturally still, eyes on her. Nope, there was no blinking there at all. Seriously unnerved, Stacy closed up the cash register, double checked that the drawer was secure, then swung open the kitchen door and hurriedly walked through. Richard, the chef, looked up when she entered. He was on his phone. “What’s up? ‘S there a customer?”

“I mean, yeah…he just wanted coffee, though. Now he’s just…sitting there…” Stacy shuddered. “He creeps me out.”

“Really?” Richard strolled over and looked through the tiny round window in the kitchen door. Stacy pushed her head next to his. The man was now rummaging in his backpack again. He pulled something out. “Please tell me that’s not a gun…” Stacy muttered.

“Nah.” Richard squinted. “Looks like a tennis ball or something. Green, round…it’s kinda glowy. Maybe it’s, like, a novelty bouncy ball?”

“He doesn’t seem the type…” Stacy muttered.

“People can be wrong, Stace. Maybe you’re just _expecting_ a creep to walk in at two in the morning, so your brain is tricking you.”

“Maybe…” She was pretty sure her instincts were correct here. The man had stared at her for way too long to be innocent.

“What’s goin’ on here?”

Richard and Stacy jumped, then simultaneously turned around to see Rosa, the manager. She’d just entered through the back door. Now she was staring at her two employees with a combined expression of annoyance and curiosity.

“There’s a, uh, customer here,” Stacy explained. “I was getting a weird feeling from him. Rich says it’s nothing.”

“Let me see.” Rosa pushed her way past them to peer through the porthole. She frowned. “He seems normal enough. That eye-patch is a bit suspicious, but we shouldn’t judge. He order anything?”

“Just coffee.”

“Well, we’ll keep an eye on him. In the mean time Stacy, d’you mind taking out the garbage in the kitchen? It’s overflowing.”

“I, uh, yeah, sure.” Stacy awkwardly backed away from the door, heading out. Picking up the garbage on the way, she couldn’t help but think that it was nowhere near overflowing. But Rosa probably had good reason. She just had to…had to remember that.

She threw the bag from the can into the dumpster in the alley, the dim light from a flickering bulb over the diner’s back door barely allowing her to see. For a split second, she allowed herself to slump. This job…she needed it, but god did it suck. Creepy guy comes in the diner? Let’s keep an eye on him, forget that he makes you uncomfortable. By the way, you still have to serve him.

A small sound came from the ground near her feet. An animal sound…? Stacy looked down and saw a cat curling around her ankles. Mostly black, with a few white spots, including four arranged in an almost perfect diamond on its forehead. It wasn’t a small cat, actually it was fairly big height- and length-wise, but it was so thin. Stacy felt a pang of sympathy for it. “Hey little guy,” she cooed.

The cat gazed up at her with big green eyes. It meowed again. Stacy bent over to pet it, and it leaned against her and purred. A faint smile curled around her lips. Animals weren’t allowed in the diner, nor in the apartment building where she lived with her kids. She missed them. “I wish you could come with me,” she sighed. But already she was worried about Rosa noticing she was taking too long. If she came back into the diner with a cat when that was explicitly against the rules, she’d get another warning. And too many warnings meant losing her job.

Oh well. Sadly, she turned around and looked at the cat again..only for it to turn into a streak of dark fur and zoom past her into the diner. “What the hell!” she cried, darting inside.

“What? What happened?” Rosa asked. She and Richard were cleaning the kitchen counters, probably under the assumption that nobody else was coming.

“There was a stray cat, it-it ran inside,” Stacy explained.

“Oh shit!” Rosa’s eyes widened. “We can’t have dirty strays in here. Richard and I will look for it. You go back out there and attend the customer.”

Stacy almost asked to switch places with one of them, but she didn’t want to push her luck with letting the cat inside. She swallowed her words and pushed through the kitchen door back into the main body of the diner.

“—to do next. I’m thinking we get you to safety. I know a place.”

She froze. In a split second, she took in two things and made two conclusions: 1) the diner was still empty except for that one guy, 2) that one guy was talking to somebody, 3) if there was no one else in the diner then the guy was talking to himself, 4) if the guy was talking to himself then he was crazy and possibly dangerous, though that wasn’t a guarantee, but with the feeling she got from him it probably was. Instinctively, Stacy ducked down so that she was hidden behind the counter. She immediately felt stupid.

“Don’t l͠o͝o̵k̶ at me that way, I can protect it!”

She immediately stopped feeling stupid. That _voice._ That wasn’t…there was something…

Stacy’s attention was caught by the kitchen door easing its way open. The black cat poked its head through. It looked at her and narrowed its eyes in an…almost human way. Then it slipped through the door and headed around the counter and out into the dining area.

The man continued. “You don’t _need_ that toxic shit, do ya? Cause I don’t want to turn right back around and scoop up a bucketful. That a no? Alright, we should probably—” Suddenly, he fell silent.

Time seemed frozen. The electric humming in the lights was definitely getting louder. It grew in intensity. Stacy shrank back.

A series of events happened in quick succession. Richard and Rosa burst through the kitchen door, cried out “Where’d the cat—?!” “Who the hell is—?” The overhead lights burst with an electric fritz and glass sprayed everywhere. It was dark for less than a second, then a flash of violet light lit everything up in startling intensity. The light was accompanied by a shock wave, and somehow Stacy was thrown from her hiding spot. She hit her head hard against the edge of a shelf on the other wall, and everything went black.

When she woke up, the first thing she noticed was the sticky, throbbing pain coming from her forehead. She almost groaned, but then she heard the laughing and thought better of it. Her head and limbs were twisted at awkward angles, but she was filled with a weakness and simply couldn’t move them. She opened her eyes. The diner was dark, except for a pulsing green light and a steady purple glow. She couldn’t see much from her spot on the floor, but the kitchen door was ajar and an arm was sticking out. It was surrounded by a puddle of dark liquid.

“ I̴ş ̛̕ţ̨h̸̕a̢҉t͝͡ ̨͞al͏͝l̵̢ ͠҉y͢o̶̶͠u̧͢͠ ҉g̡͠oţ̷͟,̢ ̧̕k̴̨i͡t҉t͞y̛͞ ̶c̨̕a̢̨t?̴”

It sounded like the words were being spoken through a buffering voice call made using a broken app. But the voice itself—the mocking, arrogant voice—was familiar. Stacy finally found the energy to push herself into a kneeling position. Her head was filled with a thick syrup, but the few thoughts that penetrated that syrup were those of curiosity. She crawled over to the counter and peeked over the top.

Someone was standing on one of the tables. Dully, Stacy recognized the scarf a moment before she saw his face. It was the man from before, but… this was impossible. The air around him was fizzing and breaking with distortion, creating shadowy duplicates and an almost glitchy effect. It seemed like the green light was coming from him. He was looking down at the source of the purple light. Another man. He had his back turned to Stacy, so she couldn’t see much… was he wearing a cape? The purple glow was coming from his hands. Stacy thought he must’ve been holding a flashlight or something, but there was no sign of anything like that.

“I have plenty more tricks up my sleeve,” spat another voice. Similar to the glitching man’s but not quite the same. It must’ve been the other one.

“W̛e̕l̸l, ̴I'̴m ͝sur͢e͝ ͞you͠ d̶o͠,” said the one on the table. The distortion increased for a moment as his head cracked to the side, then glitched back into place. He pointed something toward the caped man, and Stacy held back a gasp. Where did he get a knife?! “W̨hy ͠d͟on̶'҉t ͝yo͏u u͢s͏e th̴e͟m? ̕I͞'m sur͝e̵ yo̕u’re j͞u̷s҉t̸ _itchin̢g_ ͏to.̨” A twisted grin. “G͡o ahȩa̶ḑ.͡ I͝ wa҉̧n̵͟͝na͠͠ s҉̶̥̖e̛̦̳̯e̘̹͍̤̠̞̕͞.”

“I—” Stacy could hear the hesitation in the other man’s voice. It wasn’t like he didn’t want to, more like he _did_ want to but knew he shouldn’t. “N-no-not yet. You’re gonna tell me where you hid it. Do you have it? You’re trying to taunt me into blasting it, huh?!”

“Oh̢ ҉ye̵s,͡ th̴at makes _p̶̴̡e̢͟r̷̵f͞e̛ct ҉͡_ se̸ns͞e̛.” The words were harsh, biting. “C͝o͠ngratul̷at̡i̧ons̛, yo̵u̶'͡ve҉ ̵f̡i͟g̨ure͟d out ̡m̡y p̨lo͞t͡.҉ P͠retend͟ to ̨get̴ ͝t͞ḩem away, only t̶o͝ t͠r̨i҉ck̛ ̸you ͟i̴nt̸o k̶įl̨ling͡ t̷hem̡ ҉yours͞elf. ̵Al͝l ͝t͏h̨is̵ ̡t͞ime͡,̢ ̷I've̢ ̷be̕en̡ a ̢ca͞rto͠on ͢vi͝llai̷n w̧it̵h ̢a͢n ̨el̷ab̢o͞ra̡te ҉s̛che̕m̕e̛.͞ O͡h wai͠t̢,̛ tha͞t’s ҉yo͝u ͟a͏nd̕ y̕ou̕r li̧tt̨l͝e g͡ro҉u҉p͡ of̷ fr̛i͞end̸s.”

A hiss. An honest to god hiss, like a threatened cat. “Oh, _we’re_ the bad guys here, aren’t we?”

“Hm̸m,̸ ͝I do̧n't̴ know. ͡Havę you͏ noti̡ce҉d̨ th͠ȩ ̸w̶a̵l̕ķing̨, talk̷ing͠ evi͠l d͏octǫr̴ ͡tr͝o͠p͝e ҉y̕ou̷ ̵h͢a͏ņg ̡o͠u͏t wi͠t̸h?”

“And how are you any better?”

“I͢͏͖̖͕̯̩̙ ̴̴̨̢̛̝̰̼̥̜ a͡t̸ l̷eas̨t _k̨̛͢n͞o̢w͏̧_ t̷ha͞t I'̷m fucked̷ ̕i͟n̕ th̢e ͠he͟a̴d.”  
  
The caped man let out a horrible screech. A dark violet energy beam blasted from his hands toward the one on the table. The air crackled, and he was gone. Stacy thought for a second that he was gone, only for him to materialize on a different table on the other side of the diner. He laughed, the same one from before. “W̨ow̴,͞ ̶that̴ ̢di̴d **n̕o͠҉t̛h̨̛in̴̨̧g͞!͠** ”

The caped man turned towards him, and Stacy could just make out his face. Or rather, the mask hiding his face. It was shaped like a cat, and colored black. Four shapes, two red and two white, were in the middle of the mask’s forehead. Creeping out from underneath the mask were lines on the man’s cheeks—scars, Stacy realized. What the hell…?

Another blast of purple energy. Once again, the glitcher dissolved and reappeared on another table. And again, the same result. And again. This time, the man popped into existence standing on the counter, inches away from the spot where Stacy was watching. She exhaled sharply. The man turned his head slightly and looked down. His one visible eye had changed color; its sclera was black and the iris was acid, electric green. Stacy couldn’t help but stare at it. The distortion, the energy blasts, the creepy voice…that kind of shit was only supposed to be in movies and YouTube videos. Yet here it was, impossibly, in real life.

The man’s eye widened slightly, then he looked back to the masked man. “Y̨o͠u g҉on͟na do ̴th̛is̛ ҉forev̧e̡r̴,̡ ̕mag̷ic bo͟y?̷” he jeered. ”P͢lay ͝c̛at an̶d ̧mo͝use̸?”

“Shut up!” Another blast, and Stacy flinched as it passed so close to her. Just as before, the man glitched away. But now he appeared behind the masked man. Before he could react, the glitcher plunged the knife into his backside, quickly withdrawing it. The masked man roared and let out a spray of purple liquid that burned the walls of the diner like acid. It had no effect, as the other one disappeared once more.

“H̢e̛y͏ lady,” a voice whispered in Stacy’s ear. She let out a small squeak, then spun around. The man was crouching right next to her. His eye had gone back to normal, and the distortion seemed to have lessened somehow. “ Y͡ou need to get the f̴u̴ck̡ out of here.”

“Who—how—what—” Stacy stuttered.

“That’s not important. Come on.”

“Wh-wh-what about Rich and Rosa?” she asked.

“Dead. Ripped apart by the shockforce spell.” Then, as an afterthought, “Sorry.”

“I…” Stacy trailed off. They couldn’t be…this couldn’t be real. It was probably just a bad dream. A very realistic bad dream…

“Oh for—there’s no time for shock!” He grabbed her arm. Before she could protest or pull away, he was running around the counter and toward the exit, dragging her behind him. She cried out.

The masked man’s head whipped toward them. “Hey! You aren’t leaving yet!” Stacy looked toward him, only to see a long whip of violet fire snapping toward her. A lashing agony spread through her arm. She screamed and fell. The glitcher instinctively dissolved to avoid the fire, but he reappeared in the same spot as he realized he’d let go of her. He stopped in his tracks and made to grab her again. A shield of purple fire appeared between him and her.

“Alright, fine, if you’re gonna _make_ me do this.” The masked man rolled his eyes. “Tell me where the eye is, and the waitress can live to tell the police about this disaster. Not that they’ll believe her.”

Stacy’s heart stopped. She looked up at the glitcher with pleading eyes. He stared back at her, considering. “W͞hat'͡s yo̸ur g͞ame҉,M͡arv͟in͏?̛” he asked. “If ̸I’m ͠t̢he͠ ͠b̷ad ̸g͡uy,͏ ̶w̢h̷y ͟d̵o͏ ҉y̢o̵u th̶in͢k̨ I’d care?̶”

“Fair point.” The masked man—Marvin—shrugged. “Or, it would be if you hadn’t just fucking stabbed me to get her out. If I believe Jackie, you like to play the long game usually.”

The glitcher nodded, slightly. “A̡lri̕ght̵,̷ I̶'l͡l̸ g͝iv̛e̡ you̧ ͠a ch̷an͝c͠e̢.” He turned to Marvin. “Y͢ou can ha͏v͟e͏ them.̧..if y̕o͝u͝ ͡can̡ ͡ca̢tch t͟h̸em͢!” He threw something. A round, green object sailed through the air, over the counter and through the ajar kitchen door. Marvin cried out, then dashed to follow it. With the loss of his focus, the purple fire wall disappeared. “Come on!” the glitcher hissed to Stacy, then turned and bolted out the door. She scrambled to her feet and ran after him.

The city was still dark. Stacy glanced at her watch: 2:18 a.m. Only a little over ten minutes ago, she’d been idly sorting through the coffee cups, and now she was running from an insane fire-thrower wearing a cat mask, following a guy who could seemingly break the world at will. Her arm was burning. Rosa and Richard were dead. Her world was crashing around her.

She looked up to see the glitcher staring at her. The distortions had entirely disappeared. “Yeah?” he sounded impatient.

“Yeah—yeah what?” she stammered.

“He hit you, didn’t he? With the fire?”

“Um…” Stacy touched her arm. A bit of her uniform was burned away, and the wound was letting out a bit of smoke. “…yeah.”

“Well that sucks,” he said casually. “That’s a black magic burn. It’ll keep burning until either you eventually die somehow or a cure is administered. And that means I gotta take you to my place and fix it.” He sighed. “Okay, come on.” He turned on his heel.

“W-wait! I have questions!” Stacy hurried to catch up until she was matching his quick pace. “Who—what are you?”

“I see you corrected that one. Good.” He continued walking. Every so often they’d pass under a street light, and she’d see that she was on his blind side. Still, despite that, Stacy felt like he was staring at her. “I don’t know.”

“You don’t know? That’s impossible.”

“Is it? Is it really? Well, maybe it is and I’m just not telling you.” He giggled to himself.

Even though he’d just saved her life, that laugh was still really creepy. “And-and that other guy? Marvin?”

“Black magic magician that gives black cats the bad name they have. I stole something away from him and his friends, and they want it back.”

“What? Was it that green thing you threw?”

He grinned evilly. “No.” Still walking, he pulled at his scarf. For a moment, Stacy could see that underneath the scarf there were bloodied bandages wrapped around his neck. And then something glowing, green, and round shot out from where it had been hidden within the cloth of the scarf. It hovered in the air, easily keeping up with them. Stacy gasped. It was an _eye._ A green-scleraed, blue-irised eyeball with an optic nerve like a tail. The main body of the thing was about the size of a tennis ball. As she stared at it, its iris deformed slightly, curving upward. She got the impression that it was happy. “This little guy is Sam,” the man explained. “I broke into the guys’ main hideout and found them in a tank of green toxic fluid. They were curled up at the bottom and looked scared, so I broke the fucker and lettem out.”

“And…these guys…they want this Sam back?” Stacy hesitantly reached out toward the eyeball. It nudged her hand, then started nestling it like a pet would. It was actually kind of adorable. “Why?”

“Hell if I know. Some of them have major control freak problems, so maybe that’s it. But they sent Mr. Goodbye Kitty after me, so they’re serious about getting them back. The thing you saw me throw, that was a ‘copy,’ to distract him. He’ll grab it, take it back to their little lair, and then it’ll disappear. Thought it would buy me time to get you fixed.”

“Why didn’t you just-just teleport me?” Stacy asked.

“It’s not t̢ęl͟e̸port̷ing. It’s…well, you can call it glitching, that’s close enough. And it can’t affect most living things. Sam is somehow an exception.”

“It affects you.”

“Oh? Who told you I͡ w͏a̧s l̷̢͡į̷v̵i̴n̶g̸?” He smiled.

Stacy shuddered. She almost stopped in her tracks and ran the other way, but if he was right about the burn never healing, then she needed all the help she could get. “Okay,” she said quietly. They walked in silence for a moment through the empty city streets. But there was one more question bugging Stacy. “Wh-what-what’s your name?”

“Antisepticeye.”

“Oh.” Weird name…

“People call me Anti, if that’s too long for you. And you?”

“I’m Stacy. Stacy Bro—Davidson.”

He—Anti—faltered, turning to fully look at her for the first time. “Say that again.”

“Stacy Davidson,” she repeated, softer.

Anti stared at her for a moment longer, then turned away. “We’re almost there,” he said, and sped up.

Stacy sped up as well. Why had he been so interested in her name? Did he know something about her? Or about…? She shook her head. Don’t dwell on the past. Dwell on the present. However strange it may be.

And maybe the future too. She had the feeling it was about to get a whole lot stranger.


	10. Night Shift - Part Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It seems Stacy's got herself wrapped up in this situation with Anti. Though it seems as if she might've gotten wrapped into it eventually, given who, exactly, is involved in this single group causing a lot of the criminal trouble in the city.

Honestly, Stacy had been expecting an abandoned warehouse. She didn’t know if there were any even in the city, but the creepy-crazy atmosphere of the whole night had told her _yes, that is totally where we’ll go next_. Her second guess was a run-down ruin of a house in the suburbs, probably the site of a suspicious death. But what wasn’t even on her list of guesses was this: a perfectly normal office building in the middle of the city.

“What the hell are you waiting for?” Anti asked. She’d froze in place just outside the door.

“Um, won’t the people inside notice us?” Stacy asked. “And stop us because we’re, uh, not supposed to be there?”

“Hmm…no. Now come on.” He didn’t even bother to open the door, just dissolved, taking Sam the eye with him, and reappeared on the other side as if taunting her with his noticeable-ness. 

Feeling her face getting hot and hating it, Stacy pulled open the door and rushed inside. There was a reception desk, and a waiting area full of chairs. It was very gray and boring. There were two people in the waiting area and one behind the desk. The two were staring intently down at their phones, and the receptionist was enthralled by his computer screen. Anti ignored them all and walked right to the elevator. As Stacy followed him, she realized something: those people were awfullyinterested in their electronics; they didn’t even glance up at the sound of footsteps. It was like…they _couldn’t…_

The elevator doors closed the moment Stacy was inside. She glanced nervously at Anti, who pressed the button for the top floor, then folded his arms and stopped moving altogether. Maybe this wasn’t the best idea. As if sensing her unease, Sam darted around Anti and started bumping her arm affectionately. They looked up at her, their pupil wide, then nuzzled her further. Stacy smiled. Okay, maybe she can wait to see what happens.

 _Ding!_ The doors opened, and Anti and Stacy stepped out onto the top floor. It was completely dark, but that didn’t last long. A series of red, green, and blue LED lights flicked on. Mostly hanging from the ceiling, though a few were strung on cables on the walls. Stacy gasped as the vivid lighting revealed a dragon’s hoard of technological devices. Racks of CPUs acted as walls dividing the wide open space of the floor into rooms. A few were freestanding, more like pillars. Monitors were mounted on the walls, attached to the CPUs, dangling from the ceiling, everywhere. Cables and wires connected everything: red, yellow, white, black, grey, blue, thick, thin, rubber, plastic, bundled, individual—every variation you could imagine.

“Welcome to my hub.” Anti stood in the middle of the first “room,” arms spread wide. “You’re the only person who’s seen it so far.”

“Jesus Christ,” Stacy said softly. She looked around in awe, taking in the blinking lights on the CPUs and the multitude of cables. A few of the monitors switched on all by themselves, showing nothing but vague shapes in static. Sam flew about, looking at every little thing. “How-how does this place even _work_?”

“I ma͝ke̡ it work,” Anti said matter-of-factly. “It’s just dead wires without me. Now c’mon, we need to get your arm fixed. And your forehead is starting to bruise too.”

At this point, Stacy had begun to tune out the constant throbbing from the burn, and she’d completely forgotten about the sticky pain from where her head hit the shelf and knocked her out. But Anti’s words brought it back in full force. She winced. “Oh, that’d probably, um, be a good idea, huh?”

“Probably.” Anti rolled his eyes, then turned and walked through a gap in the CPU “wall,” letting Stacy follow. She was really starting to get sick of him doing this.

Passing through a few more “rooms,” they came to one on the outside of the building. Stacy could tell because one of the walls was covered in black trash bags, but one had started to slip, revealing a window with a nice view of the city outside. This area had a table sitting near one of the walls of racks. On the table was another computer monitor, of course, and various medical supplies. Mostly bandages, though there was also a needle and thread, some bottles, and… and… “Is that a knife?” Stacy squeaked.

“No. This͠ i̶s a ͏k͡nif̶e̛.” Anti waved around the knife he’d been brandishing back at the diner. Stacy jumped. Where did it come from? Did it just appear and disappear at will? “That’s a scalpel.”

“It has dried blood on it!”

“Yes. Actually, I didn’t mean to pick it up. It just… hi͝tchęd͡ ̡a ̕ri̡de͏ last time, so I pulled it out and kept it as a souvenir.”

“Somebody _stabbed_ you and you _kept_ it?”

“Yes.” Anti glitched over to the table and started fiddling with the bottles. “Now hold on while I find the burn salve.”

Stacy shut her mouth, remembering why he’d even brought her here in the first place. Awkwardly, she stood by the one exposed window and waited. Sam zoomed over to hover by her head. They scooted closer to the window, peered, out, then shrank back, partially hiding in Stacy’s curtain of blonde curls. “Not a fan of heights, huh?” she muttered. “Don’t worry, my son isn’t either. I understand.” With a single finger, she reached up and gently patted the eye. They were kind of sticky, but…not unpleasantly so. Sam’s pupil squished, like they were closing their eyes, and their optic nerve swished happily.

“Got it!” Anti yelled triumphantly. “Get over here!” Stacy flinched, then crept over to the table, Sam still in her hair. Anti twisted open the lid of a jar, revealing a bluish-white paste. “This is supposed to be rubbed on the area of burning, then you put a bandage on it because at that point it becomes a normal burn, and you don’t want that to get infected I assume.”

“I can—I can do that myself, thanks,” Stacy said hastily.

Anti raised an eyebrow. “Didja think I _wa̛n̢t͢ed͡_ to do this for you? Fuck no. You’re d͏e͢fi͞n̨i̛tȩly̡ doing this yourself.” He pushed he jar of salve into her hands.

“Oh…” she had, indeed, thought that. She didn’t know why…maybe his creepy vibe just made her think he would be the type to invade personal space. Apparently, it was the opposite.

While Stacy carefully smeared the paste on the burn area, wincing every time the cool salve touched the still-hot flesh, Anti picked up a roll of bandages from the table. Frowning at it, he carefully unwrapped the scarf from his neck. Stacy paused momentarily as she stared at the bloody bandages around his throat. Then, he unwrapped those as well, and she gasped, dropping the jar.

His head whipped toward her, much faster than it should’ve been able to. “What?”

“Your _neck!_ What the fuck?!” Stacy almost reached out, then stopped halfway. “It’s—are you—how—”

“Oh.” Anti poked the cut. Stacy couldn’t help but cringe, resisting the urge to touch her throat. The deep slice ran all the way across his neck, bleeding profusely. He should’ve been dead…or was he already? “I forget about it until the bandages start getting super wet. It’s _very_ inconvenient.”

“But—how—but—” Stacy stammered. “Does it hurt? Are you in pain?”

“P͡a̧i̶n..̛.̕” Anti said the word like it tasted new in his mouth. “No.”

“Th-that’s not possible. Are-are you sure?”

“Of course.” Anti unrolled the bandages. “If I’ve ever felt pain, I don’t remember it. It took me a long time to get that I was the odd one out. What’s it even for?”

It took a while for Stacy to find her voice again. After three attempts, she finally succeeded in stammering, “It-it-it’s supposed to tell you when something is-is wrong. With your, uh, your body.”

“No, no, I get that part.” Anti waved away her words. His knife reappeared, and he cut a length of bandage away from the rest of the roll. “What I don’t get is when people are in so much pain that they can’t function. Why? You can’t fix the problem if you can’t move.”

“I don’t know enough about biology to answer that,” Stacy muttered.

Anti wrapped the new bandages around his neck injury. Immediately, the clean white cloth began showing speckles of red. “You finished with the burn?” he asked. When Stacy nodded, he handed the roll to her. “Take that then. Thanks for breaking the jar, by the way.”

“Sorry…” Stacy mumbled. “You can—you can get another, right?”

“Eventually.”

What was that supposed to mean?

“Now, if you’re all fixed,” Anti grabbed his scarf, “you can show yourself out.” And he disappeared, breaking into pixels that faded away.

“Wha…” Stacy stood there awkwardly, staring at the spot where he’d been just moments before. Did he seriously just…he went to all the effort of getting her here, fixing her burn, and then he leaves her? Well, he hadn’t seemed too eager to have her tagging along in the first place, but he could have at least told her how to get out. She could probably figure it out. Probably.

Sam followed her as she tried to retrace her steps back to the elevator. They’d passed through three or four rooms of varying sizes on the way, and they’d turned once. It couldn’t be that hard.

And with this in mind, Stacy proceeded to get totally lost.

With a sigh, she stopped, standing in the middle of a square room. “Sam, you wouldn’t happen to know the way out, would you?” she asked. The little eye hovered, seeming to squint. Then they turned, and slowly flew through a gap into another room, as if saying “I _think_ it’s this way…”

It was not that way. The room beyond was a dead end; it had no more gaps in the walls of CPUs. There was an unusually high concentration of monitors here, practically covering every surface, including all over two CPU pillars in the middle. But these monitors weren’t showing static. They were constantly flickering, never staying on one image for more than a couple seconds. Stacy stepped closer to one. It was showing…websites. Social media, mostly. As she watched, it became an Instagram account, then an explore page on some blog site, then a YouTube video, then a screen from Twitter, then another YouTube video. This was interrupted by a local news website, with an article about recent trouble in the city.

“Oh my god,” Stacy whispered. Were all the screens like this? She turned and watched the ones on the pillars in the center of the room. These ones were different. They looked like security monitors. Every one showed a still image of a room. There were little labels in the bottom right corners of each screen, identifying them. Operating room, left hallway, loading dock, training room, conference room…walking around the pillars, Stacy counted twelve rooms under surveillance, from various angles.

“Sam, this is…interesting, but it’s not the way out,” she said. And right now, she really wanted to get out. “Let’s go.” She turned away.

The little eyeball flew at her face, bonking against her cheek. “Ah! What—” Stacy tried to swat them away, gently of course, but Sam just bonked even more insistently at her hands. “What is it?” Stacy hissed. Sam darted away, zooming in front of a screen and tapping it with their nerve-tail.

Stacy narrowed her eyes. “Sam, did you want me to come in this room?” The eye responded by tapping frantically.

It didn’t make sense. Sam had never been in this hub before, how would they have known where this room was? And how would they know it had something of interest to Stacy in it? Maybe Sam was psychic. They were already a sentient floating green eyeball, what’s being psychic compared to that? Well, it didn’t matter. Sam wasn’t going to let Stacy leave until she saw whatever was on this monitor. She leaned in close…

“Chase?!”

“S̸o y̢ou̡ ̷ _dǫ_ ̶know ͏hi͝m.͡”

Stacy shrieked. She spun around with too much force and ended stumbling, almost following to the floor. Anti was next to her, the air around him full of spasms and glitches. He was staring at her intently. Hastily, Stacy backed away.

“I was looking you up,” Anti said casually. A screen next to him turned to static, then began rapidly switching between images. “Facebook status single, but you have two kids. Constantly searching for new jobs, been denied for everything so far because you never finished college. And if you go back far enough, there’s a certain someone who appears in a lot of pictures you’ve posted.” He pointed to the monitor that showed the security footage. “That’s not actually who you think it is. All of them look pretty similar, so I don’t blame you for thinking it was your—”

“ _Stop!_ ” Stacy screamed. Anti took a step back, eye widening. “You—you shouldn’t know these things! This is my life! This is—it’s a violation of privacy! You shouldn’t—don’t—leave me alone! Leave everyone alone!” Then she turned and ran.

She couldn’t find the way out. Why couldn’t she find the way out? It shouldn’t be this difficult. But the endless racks of computers and the never ending screens of static and the cables and wires that could be tripped upon—it made the floor a maze. Twists and turns, and Stacy just kept running. Until finally she reached another dead end. Tears pricked at her eyes, and she collapsed to the ground, leaning against one of the racks. She put her head in her hands.

Something bumped against her head. Stacy looked up to see Sam, their iris curved downward in a sad expression. They gently rested their “head” against hers. It was sweet.

A screen on the wall fizzed, and Anti appeared beside her. She squeaked, then edged away. Anti stood perfectly still, the glitches and distortions around him fading away. Sam flew toward him, circling around him a couple times before coming to rest on his shoulder. Anti glanced at them, then…smiled. A gentle smile. It faded away when he looked back at Stacy. “I’m…sorry.”

Stacy stared at him. “No, you’re not.”

“I…maybe.” Anti sat down. “I didn’t mean to make you freak out. I wish I didn’t. Does that mean I’m sorry?”

“Don’t know,” Stacy said honestly. “You were—you were _spying_ on me.”

“No. I was investigating you. You reacted so strange when I showed up at your diner, and then when you gave me your name you were about to say something else, before you changed it. I wondered if you were connected to that trigger-happy maniac. Or, maybe trigger-angry would be a better description.” He laughed at his own comment.

Stacy bristled. “Chase isn’t a maniac.”

“Of course you would say that, he’s your husband.”

“Well, I mean, we—we’re not married anymore. We got a, um, divorce.”

“And why did you do that?”

“I…” Stacy trailed off. It was two years ago that they’d divorced. Or rather, when she asked for a divorce. Why had she done it…? Her excuse was that he was terrible with finances, and that they’d gotten married early and she’d fallen out of love.

But…she remembered when she first told Chase she wanted to be separated. He’d pleaded with her, begged her, to reconsider. She gave it another shot. And she watched him more closely. He was away a lot, always obsessed with his stupid YouTube channel, needing to get the views, needing to constantly up the ante to get the attention he craved. The kids would ask when their dad would be home, and she’d have to tell them over and over that she didn’t know. She told him a second time that she wanted a divorce, and this time, she didn’t let up. He told her he couldn’t live without her. He said that the kids were his as much as hers. He threatened to kill himself if she went through with it. It…scared her, actually. And after the proceedings went through, and the court ruled he wasn’t fit to raise kids, he sent her a video in an email, subject line: “this is your fault.” Watching it…

“But that doesn’t give you the right to-to spy on him!” Stacy blurted out, as if Anti was somehow able to read the thoughts that had been running through her head. “And-and what about those people downstairs? You—it’s like you hypnotized them or something!”

Anti blinked, slowly. The first time she’d seen his eyes close at all. “I'̧m̷ ͏no̢ţ a̢ filt͠hy͝ ͠fųc͡ki̧n̶g ̡hypn̷o͝tis̨t,” he growled. “N̨o̵t l̸ik̵e͡ _s҉͎̞̹͔̬̻͡o̵̤͕͔͔͈m̷̭̳͍̫̤̦e̛҉̹̲̤͍_ pe͏̧o̧p̡̕͠l̸̸ę͢. Those in the lobby were just in a trance. They came out of it the moment we left, and weren’t aware that time passed. No harm done.” He paused. “ U͠͏͞n͏͟l͏͝i͢k͞e ş̢o͞m̧e͏ p̛͞eo̵̶pl̕e̷’s t͟͞r̕ic͡k̷̕s̕.”

That still didn’t sound good. “But-but it was still mind control.”

“No, it wasn’t. If they wanted, they just needed to look away from their screens to break the trance. That’s happened to me before. It’s just easier if they don’t notice me.”

“Oh.” That was…underwhelming. “So, so then why are you spying on Chase?”

“Not just him.”

Six screens in the room blinked away their static. They flickered through a variety of images. Stacy’s eyes darted to and fro, taking in everything. On one monitor, there were pictures of Chase, interspersed with what looked like news reports. On another, Stacy recognized the man in the cat-shaped mask, Marvin, along with strange symbols and nonsense words.

“How much do you know about the situation in the city?” Anti asked.

“Like, on the news?” When Anti nodded, Stacy continued. “I know there’s been some disappearances lately. A…I mean, I don’t want to freak my kids out, but…a concerning amount. And there are a lot of criminal gangs, but they’re being taken out by each other. And some people are…they’re worse than disappearing.” She swallowed nervously.

“The news doesn’t cover everything,” Anti said darkly. “The people who are ‘worse than disappearing?’ They’re coming back in pieces. The gangs and mobs aren’t being taken out by each other, but by one psycho who decided one day that h̸͞ę knew what was best. And the ones going missing are just labelled as such because they never find the bodies. This place has gone to s̨͟hit͡, Stacy. And your ex is involved. He’s part of this whole little group, the same guys I rescued Sam from. They’ve been causing trouble all this time, so I ͡wa͏tch͢ them, trying to keep track of all five’s antics so I can stop them. F̧or̨ ͡go͡o̸d̕.͞”

“What?! No no no no, Chase isn’t—even he wouldn’t get involved with—”

“You know, he’s awfully fond of that gun of his, right?”

Stacy shuddered. “Y-yes. He—after we got a divorce, he—”

“Sometimes, the only way to get out your frustration about your shitty life is to make sure nobody gets to be happier than you.”

“I—I don’t—” Stacy stuttered. She didn’t want to believe him. But she was starting to. And she hated that. “He is my kids’ father.”

“You couldn’t have known. And maybe he was different, before. Humans change. Circumstances change.”

“You’re not helping!” Stacy hissed.

“I’m not?” Anti sounded faintly curious. “Oh, well. Do you still want to leave?”

“…yeah,” Stacy muttered. She stood up. “I don’t—I don’t know what to do. I-I need a new job, I need to understand this,I-I-I—”

Anti glitched into an upward position. Sam jumped off his shoulder and zoomed toward Stacy, bopping her head. That got a small grin from her. “You may be going into shock,” Anti said casually. “You should probably get home before everything comes crashing down.”

“I don’t—how do I get there from here?” Stacy asked softly.

Anti’s head tilted to the side. The distortion increased, and some of the nearby monitors flickered. “Am I _allowed_ to give you directions on your phone?”

“O-oh!” Stacy reached into the pocket of her uniform. She’d completely forgotten about her phone in all this craziness. That was a miracle for this day and age. “Y-yeah, I guess. I just thought—I mean, I know it’s ridiculous, but I thought you’d, uh, walk me there, like you walked me here?”

“I can’t keep this body stable for much longer,” Anti said. “And that was a special case. To show you the way and how to fix the burn.”

“Wh-what was that first part?” Stacy asked faintly.

Anti rolled his eyes. “Think of everything you’ve seen this evening. Is it too far to tell you that I’m not a physical entity and I’m just copying someone’s body for a short period of time?”

“Uh…that’ll probably make more sense when I think about it later. But…whose body?”

“Not important.” The way Anti said those two words left no room for discussion, but Stacy noticed the sixth monitor suddenly switch off completely. It must’ve been a touchy subject. “Now come on, I’ll get you back to the elevator.”

An ironically short walk through the technological maze later, the two of them were standing back in front of the elevator. The door opened on its own. “There’s nobody downstairs except for the receptionist right now,” Anti said.

“How do you—”

“This building has security cameras. The system is easy to hack, fo̢r ͞m̡ę. Now, are you going to throw a fit about putting him in a trance, or are you going to take the risk of him asking you who you are and how you got up there?”

Nervousness about social interaction. He’d only known her for a few hours, and he already knew exactly what to say. Stacy sighed. “No, you-you can do that.” She stepped into the elevator. “Well…goodbye.” Anti waved a bit, and Sam bounced up and down in the air. The doors closed behind her.

What would she do with all she’d learned tonight? How would she fit into this new world she’d discovered? Just yesterday she’d been a struggling single mom with a crappy waitress job, now she was unemployed and knew that her ex was a criminal. Was it better to know this?

Maybe it was. Because she also knew that there was somebody out there trying to fix this messed-up city. Sure, he was an asshole and struggled with relating to the people he was trying to keep safe, but he was _trying,_ and that was what mattered. He could get better.

And at the very least, her life had just got a hell of a lot more interesting.


	11. Two-Sided Story

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the chaos of a few weeks ago, Anti decides to check in on this Stacy again. Meanwhile, it seems her involvement in the fight hadn't gone unnoticed by the other five.

Stacy was late to pick up the kids. Again. She’d been running around for the past two weeks or so, trying her best to get a new job. But it seemed like everywhere she went, she was met with a “we’re not looking for anyone right now, sorry.” She left them with a copy of her sparse resume anyway, but she had a hunch she wouldn’t get a call back.

She’d been lucky this time. The place had a “Now Hiring” sign out front, and they let her into an interview right then and there. She was glad she’d dressed a bit nicer than usual just in case this happened. But the interview…hadn’t gone well, possibly? The manager had asked her about prior work experience, and when she replied she worked at _The Dish and Glass_ before, he asked her if she was the waitress from the news. Of course she was. Her face had been all over the TV for days after the incident. It was becoming something of a local mystery: one ordinary May night, a regular customer had walked into the diner at three a.m., only to see the manager and cook dead on the floor and the waitress missing entirely. It had been immediately reported, the police had come to the scene, and the next morning Stacy woke up to a couple cops knocking on the door, checking to see if she was home.

Of course, she hadn’t told them everything. What would they think of that? Yes, I saw a magician and a living glitch fighting over a sentient glowing eyeball. Please don’t lock me up, I’m telling the truth and not crazy. I’m fit to raise my kids who need me, I swear. Instead, she’d told them _almost_ the story: she took out the trash, accidentally let a cat in, and the three of the workers chased it into the dining area, where she’d ducked under the counter to get at the cat better, and lucky she did, because some sort of grenade went off and she hit her head and got knocked out. She woke up with her arm hurting from some sort of mysterious burn, and then she went home, too in shock to call the police. Most people accepted that story, though it was still baffling. What kind of grenade could tear people into pieces and completely wreck the walls of the diner but not the furniture? Conspiracy theorists were already circling the case like wolves circling a wounded deer.

Stacy was so lost in her thoughts that she nearly missed the turn for the school. Luckily she snapped out of it just in time. She pulled the minivan up to the curb where the kids were sitting. The two of them climbed inside.

“Hi kids!” she said in a forced cheery voice. “Have a good time at school?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Yeah, it was good.”

They didn’t talk much since the divorce. Stacy knew they missed their dad, but he couldn’t come back. She didn’t know how much they knew about what happened during the proceedings, or if they knew the reason _why_ their father was ruled unfit to raise them, but she’d told them repeatedly that it was better this way, and she’d explain when they were older. At least they hadn’t seen the video he sent her afterwards. That would scar them for sure.

The family’s house was a small, one-story rental on the edge of the city. It wasn’t in a bad neighborhood, but with the state this town was in it couldn’t be in a good one either. The kids rushed inside the moment their mom opened the door, taking their backpacks into their shared bedroom and mumbling explanations about homework. Stacy sighed, and immediately collapsed on the worn brown couch in the living room. She threw her arm across her eyes and lay there. She probably had things to do—bills to pay, job locations to visit. But she needed a moment.

She stayed in that position for a while before something bumped her foot.

Now that was weird. They didn’t have a pet, what could’ve done that? She wondered if she imagined it, then felt another, more vigorous bump against her leg. She peeked out from under her arm, then flung it away entirely when she recognized that green glow. “Sam?!” she gasped.

The little eyeball whizzed up next to her head, their iris making a smile shape. They nuzzled her face, and the gesture managed to pull a smile out of her. “Good to see you, buddy,” she said softly. “But what’re you—”

The old TV they had flickered to life. Stacy bolted upright and watched the static crawl across the screen. It gave way to chunks of red, blue, and green, which flickered and flashed rapidly before flying _out_ of the TV all together. She closed her eyes for a split second, and when she opened them Anti was standing in the middle of her living room. Shapes of red, blue and green ran across his skin like oil across water before disappearing entirely, leaving him relatively normal-looking. He rolled his shoulders, muttered something that sounded like “cathode rays,” then looked at Stacy and said, “Hello. Sam wanted to visit so I came too.”

“Um, u-uh…hi,” she said, gaping. “I didn’t…think I would see you again.”

“I didn’t either,” Anti admitted. “Unless you were in danger, which could be possible at any moment. But I told you, Sam wanted to visit. They like you.”

Sam punctuated this by perching on top of Stacy’s shoulder and curling their optic nerve around them. “I see,” Stacy mused, a spark in her eyes as she watched them. Then she turned her attention to the TV. “I thought you were, like, computer based…”

“Electricity, actually,” Anti shrugged. “Mostly. Remind me to tell you about the time I got trapped in a room lined with a Faraday cage for nine days. Fucking s̛ưc͠ke͡d̵.”

“Um, okay.” Stacy had no idea what a Faraday cage was, but she could guess that it blocked electric signals or something like that.

“Mom?” A pair of little footsteps came running down the hall. Stacy’s heart skipped as the kids turned the corner back into the living room. “We heard weird noises. Is something wrong with the TV, or…” Her daughter’s question trailed off as the kids took in the scene.

Stacy’s head darted back and forth between the kids and Anti. They seemed to be having a staring contest. Normally Stacy would’ve placed her bet on Anti, who didn’t even need to blink, but in this case the two little ones looked totally frozen in time, eyes like lasers focused on Anti.

Her son was the first one to break the tension. “You look like Dad,” he said.

Anti folded his arms. “I’m not.”

“Yeah I guessed that. Dad has both eyes. And he doesn’t wear scarves.”

“I know.”

“You know Dad?!”

“Yes.”

“Are you related?”

“No.”

Well. This was not how Stacy would’ve expected this to go. She was prepared for Anti to snap at them for interrupting, or for the kids to freak out upon seeing a strange man. Maybe children were just too low on Anti’s radar to register as worth being hostile towards. And maybe the kids were reassured by his resemblance to their father. Anyway, Stacy was so caught off guard that she could only gape at the exchange.

Her daughter squealed, drawing her attention. “What is that?!” she gasped, pointing to Sam, who was still sitting on Stacy’s shoulder. In response, the little eye popped into the air, optic nerve tail wagging.

“That’s Sam,” Anti explained. “They’re a friend of my friend.”

“Does that make them your friend?”

“I don’t know.”

Sam zoomed right on over and gently bumped into the side of Anti’s head, as if to say _of course it does you dummy._ Anti frowned at them in a jokingly irritated fashion.

“Wait…are you friends with _Mom?_ ” her son asked, eyes wide.

Anti shrugged, and looked over to Stacy. “Ah, yes, we…are,” she rushed to explain. “Anti and Sam helped me out that night at the diner. You remember, the one the police asked me about?”

“The one that means you don’t have work anymore.” Her daughter nodded. “I get it.” Stacy was sure she didn’t, but luckily she was saved from making awkward explanations when Sam flew over to the kids. They circled them a couple times, before gently bapping each one on the cheek. In unison, the kids’ eyes lit up. “They’re so cute!” her daughter cooed. “Can we play with them? Please Mom?”

“I…of course. Just be gentle, they’re very delicate.” Stacy wasn’t sure if that was true, but better to be safe than sorry.

As the two kids plonked themselves down on the living room rug and let Sam amuse them, Anti turned to look at Stacy with a puzzled expression. “You still don’t have a job?”

“Ah…n-no,” Stacy admitted. “I’ve been looking, but very few people are hiring.”

“That’s bullshit.”

“Anti!” Stacy said, appalled.

“What?”

“The kids!”

“…anyway, a lot of businesses in the city are looking for help. Granted, a fair bit of them are working for some mob or another, but a lot are legitimate. Help is disappearing. Where’ve you been looking?”

“I-I’ve been driving around every day since you saw me, dropping in and-and asking, and giving them my resumes. A lot of-of customer service places.”

Anti stared at her. She could practically hear the hum of his thinking, like an overworked CPU. Then he said, “I’m going to your computer. Meet me there.” And dissolved into fragments.

Confused, Stacy stood up and hurried down the hall to her room, where her laptop computer had its permanent resting place on her desk. She opened the bedroom door and saw the screen of the computer flickering through websites too quickly for her to get a good look at them. After a little bit, it settled on a single site and Anti reformed, sitting on the edge of the desk. “There we go,” he said, sounding like a cat that just succeeded in showing up the stupid humans.

“Wh-what?” Stacy walked over and sat in her swivel chair. He’d…actually opened up her email. That was concerning, to say the least.

“If you want to find a job, you need to do it online,” Anti explained. “I signed you up for a lot of sites to help you with that. They’ll mail you job opportunities, but it can get very spammy so unsubscribe if you get tired of that. I also sent your resume to several businesses that would hire someone with your qualifications. If you don’t like them, then don’t accept the job when they tell you to come in for an interview.”

“I…don’t know what to say.” Stacy shook her head, stunned. “I thought you, like, didn’t like me or something.”

“‘Like’ is a relative term. It’s my fault you’re unemployed, so until you get a new job I owe you, and I hate that. So I have to help you get one.” Anti’s form flickered for a moment. “You’re running out of savings.”

“How did you—”

“U̷se yo͟ur ̴co̶m̨mon s̶e̸n͞s͏e͢. I didn’t do anything, if that makes you feel better, just checked. Unless you’re planning on dipping into your kids’ college funds, you need a boost. I can transfer you one.”

Stacy glared. “From where?”

“Well, I’m sure you wouldn’t be opposed to your bastard husband finally paying his child support.”

“You can’t—”

“Actuall̛y͠ ͡I͠ c͡an̢. And I just did. Have fun with that!” And in a flash of grinning pixels he disappeared. Her computer screen briefly turned to static before settling back to normal.

Stacy leaned back in the chair. Good to know Anti can hack bank accounts as easily as he can spy on her social media profiles. And she supposed she did appreciate his help. But she got the feeling he’d done it as much to spite Chase as he did it to help her. And stealing money, no matter who from, made her uncomfortable. But Anti didn’t seem the type to listen to her, so she supposed she had to make the most of it.

Playful shouts came from the living room. Apparently Sam hadn’t left, and was still entertaining the kids. With a small smile, Stacy swiveled around and left. Maybe…if the kids were happy, she should be too.

* * *

Time passed. The sun set, and it became evening. On the other side of the city, Chase sat at the dining room table and watched as Jackie ran around, looking for his mask. He was wearing the rest of his getup, but that part specifically had gone missing.

“Just go out without it, dude,” Chase suggested, casually taking another sip of his beer.

“I can’t do that!” Jackie sounded scandalized at the very idea. “I have a secret identity to maintain! I can’t go out and buy supplies from the hardware store if the stupid police have my face on a fucking wanted poster. People would recognize me!”

“Mm-hmm. Speaking of people recognizing you, where’s Jack?” If Jackie was going to go running around the house in full vigilante regalia, an outfit that was on the news frequently, that could cause major problems.

“Jack is taking a nap,” Schneep piped in, sitting across from Chase with a coffee mug in hand. He about to go to work too, but instead of being fueled through the night by zealous righteousness like Jackie was, he just used caffeine. “We are always leaving at this time, I thought it would be better to eliminate chance.”

Chase nodded. “Tell Jameson if you decide to keep this up. Might get suspicious otherwise.”

Schneep nodded in return, then swallowed a whole mouthful of hot coffee before immediately spitting it back into the mug with a gasp. Chase rolled his eyes. “And that’s the twenty-fourth time you’ve done that. Are you ever going to learn?”

“I think it is different!” Schneep rasped. “It is not!”

“Yeah, of course it’s not, hot coffee is hot coffee regardless of the day you brew it,” Jackie scowled. “ _You_ haven’t seen my mask, have you?”

“I think Marvin stole it,” Schneep said, eyebrows scrunching up as he remembered.

“Mar—of course it’s him. Why the hell does he need that?! And he locked the basement door, _again,_ which is a huge inconvenience, _still.”_

“I thought your supplies were upstairs,” Chase pointed out.

“I—well, it—” Jackie spluttered. “Whatever. I’m going to turn on the news and hope that he finishes his…stuff…before the night ends.” He turned on his heel and went through the door into the living room. The sound of the evening news could be heard through the open archway that served as the kitchen/dining room entrance.

“Get a back up mask!” Chase shouted, then took another swig while Jackie yelled obscenities at him from the other room.

“You should not antagonize him so much,” Schneep suggested.

“Hey, I can’t control my mouth when I’m drunk.”

“That is your first one.”

“Are you sure?”

“Chase I am not Jack, do not fucking try that on me.”

“Alright alright, fine, whatever,” Chase waved away Schneep’s comments.

In the living room, the TV continued: _And now for the local news, police are still looking for the culprit of the Diner Bombing two weeks ago. Two civilians were killed in “the Dish and Glass” by what police can only assume was a new, developmental kind of bomb. The only witness was one Stacy Davidson, who claims she didn’t see anything before she was knocked out by the force of the explosion._

Chase turned sharply to the side, knocking over his bottle. “What was that?”

“Chase, for fuck’s sake—”

He was already in the living room. He was standing behind one of the couches, eyes fixed on the TV screen. There was a news anchor in a suit and a lot of makeup, droning on about…something. And taking up a quarter of the picture was a photograph of a woman with curly blonde hair and brown eyes. She’d gotten a new haircut and her cheeks had filled out, but Chase still recognized her instantly.

“Oh my god…” he muttered. “She’s still here.”

Jackie glanced behind him. “Wait…that’s her? That’s the same Stacy?”

Chase nodded. “I thought she left town…but she’s just here…”

Schneep came out of the dining room, still holding his coffee mug. “Chase, you have got to let this go, it is very stupid of you. One woman is not worth everything else in your life.”

“Just because _your_ marriage didn’t work out doesn’t mean _mine_ won’t!” Chase yelled.

The doctor’s expression immediately darkened. Before anyone could do anything they regretted, Marvin entered the room. “What…did I walk into?” he asked.

“Hey fucker!” Jackie stood up sharply. “Heard you stole my mask. Give it back, I gotta go do important stuff.”

“Oh, unlike me?” Marvin growled. “Don’t think I can’t pick up what you’re throwing down. But fine. Here it is.” He threw said mask at Jackie, who caught it easily.

“Why did you even _need_ this?” he muttered, pulling it on.

“Taglock,” Marvin said, like that explained everything.

“Fine. Whatever. I’m leaving. Schneep, you’re leaving too. C’mon.”

“But I—”

“Put it in a travel mug and let’s go.” Jackie glared at him, subtly gesturing towards Chase, who was still totally enraptured by the TV. _We’re not dealing with this right now,_ Jackie’s look said. Schneep shut his mouth and nodded, disappearing briefly back into the kitchen before coming back out with a silver travel mug of coffee and a black bag. The two of them left without another word.

Marvin turned his attention to Chase. “What are you looking at?”

“It’s _Stacy_ ,” Chase emphasized.

“Your ex?” Marvin looked at the TV screen, barely catching the picture of Stacy before it cut to commercial. His eyes widened. “Oh my god, I’ve seen her before. She was with the bitch.”

That snapped Chase out of his stupor. “What?!”

“That night I went after the septic eye. I cornered him in a diner, she was there, he protected her.”

“What.” Chase’s eyes were alight. He clenched his fists.

“Calm your tits, I don’t think he was interested in her _that_ way. But she does know him.”

“I’m going to find her. I’m going to get her back.” Chase said, spinning around and heading towards the front door.

“Okay, I can see where that can be helpful. If she knows him, she can tell us about his plans, or even lead us to him. But, Chase, think about this. You and her are…complicated. Maybe one of us—”

Chase looked over his shoulder, and the glare he shot Marvin was enough to silence the magician immediately. There was no room for argument here. He loved Stacy. She _needed_ to be with him. They needed to be a family again. There was no other option.

“I’m getting her back,” he repeated in a steely tone. He opened the door and left, slamming it behind him.


	12. Stalkers and Masks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stacy's been having the strangest feeling that someone's watching her, and Anti figures this is as good a time as any to catch her up to speed on the group. Meanwhile, Marvin goes to Schneep for help with a problem (even though he'd rather not trust anyone with this.)

Stacy liked to think that her computer was secure. She kept up-to-date on her antivirus software, didn’t give trust anything that asked for her security information, and kept her passwords on a sheet of paper in her nightstand drawer instead of anywhere digitally that could be hacked. However, she quickly learned that all these precautions were for naught when it came to the living glitch who decided he wanted to check on her every ten hours or so. She’d be browsing the Internet and suddenly the webpage would freak out. That didn’t mean she was being hacked (actually, technically she was) it just meant Anti decided to pop in.

Honestly, she was starting to warm up to him. Maybe that was because he hadn’t showed up in person for the last week so she didn’t have to deal with his personality. Occasionally she’d get an email or text from a blocked user, asking her how life was, if she was safe. And, well, life was better. She’d gotten a new job at a department store with better pay. The hours were good too, now she had time to spend with her kids and also get enough sleep. Things in the city seemed to have calmed down, in that there was less death and disappearance on the news.

But…something was off. There were times when she was out and about, driving the kids to places or running errands on her own, when she felt like someone was watching her. When she looked around, she usually didn’t see anyone. But there were times when she thought she saw…him. To the point where it was starting to freak her out.

One night, after putting the kids to bed, she sat down at her computer and typed a simple phrase into Google: “how to tell if someone is stalking me.” Immediately, the page froze. She hit enter several times, trying to search, but a strange, rapid staticky beeping just came out from her speakers. And it was that moment when she realized it wasn’t just something wrong with her Internet.

A fizzing of pixels later, Anti was sitting on her desk, legs dangling off the side. “What are you, seven?” she asked before her brain could catch up with her mouth.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Anti said. “So what’s up with that search?”

“Are you spying on me whenever I use Google?”

“No, I just installed a program to let me know when certain words were searched. Such as ‘stalk’ or ‘stalking.’” His eye narrowed. “So? What’s the deal? Is it him?”

“I’m…not sure,” Stacy said slowly. “Sometimes I think I see him, other times I just get a…a vague sort of sense that…someone’s watching me. It’s probably nothing, I’m probably just being stupid, but…better safe than sorry, y’know?”

“Definitely, especially considering they could be magically tracking you.”

Stacy gaped at him and his nonchalant statement. “Excuse me?”

“Come on, you were there that night at the diner. You saw that magic was real. Didn’t you think something like that was possible?”

“No, I didn’t.” Stacy leaned back in her swivel chair. “I guess it never occurred to me that that was a-a possibility. I didn’t know the rules for this sort of thing. Sorry, I should have thought—I should have known.”

Anti stared at her, then glitched off the desk and into a standing position. “No, you really shouldn’t have, because nobody told you. It’s not your fault, so don’t assume it is. I could possibly give you a brief overview, let you know what you’re in danger of.”

“Oh! Th-thank you!” Stacy hadn’t realized she was apologizing for things that weren’t her fault. Force of habit, she assumed. She looked at the computer screen, where her question still lingered, unsearched, in the search bar. “Do you think…I-I mean, I know Chase doesn’t have any magic, unless he does and I didn’t know, so…are they teaming up?”

Anti considered this. “Probably. Your ex and the magician aren’t on the best terms, but they’re civil. You’d be in more danger of having the doctor or the vigilante stalking you for him, those guys are closer.”

For some reason, that simple statement made dread pool in her stomach. “H-how many of them are there again?”

“Five.”

“And…and they could all help Ch—help him follow me?”

“Mmm, probably.”

“Oh my god. Oh my god.” Stacy sat on her hands to keep them from shaking. She’d never done anything in her life to warrant so many enemies. And, if she remembered correctly, these guys were responsible for most of the current chaos and terror in the city. She worked hard to take deep, controlled breaths. “Do you…do you have any, uh, um, any info on these guys I could see? You’re all computery, do you have files on them or something?”

“I do. But you don’t want the full files, you’ll lose sleep. I can maybe give you some edited versions…” Anti’s head tilted to one side. He stared intently at her computer screen. She watched as her browser closed and her file explorer opened. By itself, the computer navigated to the downloads folder, then five new folders appeared, each one labeled with a name, followed by (edit).

“Huh…that’s handy.” Stacy scooted her chair closer to the desk, grabbing the mouse. She stared at the folder with his name on it for a while, but she couldn’t bring herself to click on it. Instead, she clicked on the next one down, opening up the folder to reveal various .txt files.

“There used to be photos and videos in here,” Anti said, peering over her shoulder.

“Why’d you remove them?”

“How squeamish are you?”

“I mean…my daughter broke her arm once. It was all bent but I could look at it.”

“I probably made a good call then.” Anti pointed at one of the files, and it opened up. “Brief overview: guy’s a doctor. Not really, ‘cause he got booted from medical school for maltreatment. Didn’t stop him from faking graduation, getting a job at a hospital, and then stealing the patients who wouldn’t be missed.”

“This sounds like the backstory of a horror movie villain,” Stacy laughed nervously.

Anti didn’t laugh. “I’m sure the patients thought they were stuck in a horror movie.” He gave Stacy a dead-eye stare until her smile faded. Then he turned back to the screen. “Police in his home country found out. He ran, ending up here. Started a nice little black-market clinic and kept up his hobby.”

“You know I think I’ll read this one later, when it’s lighter outside.” Stacy hurried to click out of the folder. She opened up the next one instead. This one had videos as well as text files. “…should I be worried about these?” she asked, circling one of the videos with the mouse.

“Nothing explicit, just violence like you’d see in a movie. Criminals get the shit beat out of them. The works.”

“Wait…this is for that vigilante, isn’t it? The one on the news?” Stacy looked at the folder name. “That’s his real—”

“Yep. So if you see a guy who looks like this—” He opened one of the videos, fast forwarding until he got to a good image of the vigilante’s face. “—and he introduces himself to you as that, you better run. Actually, don’t, he’s probably faster than you. Distract him until you can sneak away.”

“He can’t be that bad, can he?” Stacy asked, skeptical. “I mean…getting rid of the criminals in the city? It’s like a real-life superhero.”

“Well, superheroes don’t beat confessions out of mob members and then murder them. He’s probably the safest to have a conversation with, though. Assuming you haven’t done anything illegal.”

“O-kay…then…” Stacy was starting to realize just how deep this trouble she was in really was. She could feel the beginnings of panic edging in on her, but she pushed it away. She’d let herself freak out later. “Wh-what about that magician guy? I think you called him Marvin in the diner? Can he really…magically track me?”

“Probably.” Anti closed the vigilante’s folder and opened up the magician’s. There were a lot of images in this one, what looked like pictures of pages from books. “I’ve been trying to keep track of the spells he knows, but it can be difficult. There’s a good chance he knows a tracking spell, but he probably wouldn’t use it unless someone, like your ex, asked him to.”

“…do I want to know why?”

“Eh, he doesn’t really care for spells like that. If they can’t produce effects he can see, he won’t use them unless necessary. He’s a flashy bitch like that. Has a style and sticks to it. Like that cape, which he only takes off maybe one day per week, and that mask, which I actually haven’t seen him take off yet.”

“Really? Never? Not even to sleep or take a shower or anything?”

“Sleeps with it on. And I’m don’t know about that shower thing, I didn’t put a camera in their bathroom.”

Stacy briefly wondered if his knowledge about sleeping with the mask meant he’d put cameras in the _bedrooms,_ but she pushed that out of her mind for now. “Why? Seems uncomfortable…”

Anti laughed. “Well, a long time ago, he tried a spell he wasn’t ready for, and it blew up in his face. I’m pretty sure he’s embarrassed about what it looks like underneath there…”

* * *

“Schneep! I know for a fact you’re in there!” Marvin banged on the door. When there was still no answer, he sighed, looking around the reception room of the clinic where he was standing. He didn’t like this place. It was that kind of almost-nice that looked like it was trying to fool you into thinking it was less shady than it actually was. The good doctor really needed to upgrade his decor.

Having enough of contemplating his dislike of this place, Marvin turned back to the door and started banging harder. “Hey doc! I’m not against melting your door down if you don’t come out in the next thirty seconds!”

The door flung open, and Marvin barely jumped out of the way in time to avoid getting a whack to the face. Schneep poked his head out. He was wearing his mask, which he proceeded to pull down in order to scowl at Marvin. “There is no need for such a commotion, my friend!” he scolded. “I was in one of the back rooms, I did not hear you for a while and then it took me a tick-tock to get here.”

“Whatever. Get a security camera wired up here, or a buzzer or something. I could’ve been a customer who just decided to take business elsewhere.”

Schneep barked out a laugh. “If people come here, it is not because they have options to take business to. But enough of this, what did you want?”

Marvin shifted on his feet. “I…need you to take a look at something.”

“Oh, is that all?” A wave of relief crossed Schneep’s face. He stepped back, opening the door wide enough for Marvin to pass through. “Come in, come in, I can see what it is back here.”

Marvin let Schneep lead him into the operating part of the clinic, but he refused to sit down on the table. “It seems not so serious, so if you would please wait a moment while I take care of this…” Schneep vanished through one of the metal doors leading deeper into the building, leaving Marvin to tap his feet impatiently. He didn’t like this. First of all, this place looked like it was thrown together, and also needed an upgrade. Second of all, he was already having doubts about this, he didn’t want them to have time to fester.

Schneep reemerged, tossing an empty syringe on a nearby tray. “There we are, we will not be disturbed now,” he said. “What is it you need help with?”

Marvin started fidgeting, pulling on his fingers. “Okay. So. I am—look, I’m trusting you with this. You can’t tell anyone, alright?”

“That is no problem.”

“I’m serious. I will literally put a fucking curse on you if I find out you told anyone.”

“Okay.”

“I’ve been working on one that can make it feel like pins are being shoved in your eyes whenever you look at something, and that something can be as vague as a specific color. Y’know, like the literal version of ‘cross my heart, hope to die, stick a needle in my eye.’”

“Now you are going overboard with this. I have no intention of telling anyone whatever it is this is about. This secret of yours is safe with me.”

Marvin exhaled slowly, and looked toward the ceiling. “Okay. Okay, good. Fuck. Here goes nothing.” Before he could change his mind, he reached up and undid the straps of his mask, then pulled it off. He slowly looked back towards the doctor.

Schneep’s eyes were wide. He stepped forward until he was uncomfortably close to Marvin. He raised his hand. “May I…?”

Marvin hesitated. “…fine,” he grumbled. “But take off your gloves, they’re still messy. And be careful.”

The doctor pulled off his gloves, then put his hands on either side of Marvin’s head, turning it from side to side so he could get a better look. “My god,” he muttered. “What happened to you?”

“That’s not your fucking business,” Marvin said through gritted teeth. “But they’ve been…itching for a while now, and I’m wondering if they’re infected or something.”

“I would be surprised if they were not. They look…angry.” Schneep’s eyebrows furrowed. “How old are they?”

“I think about…four years at this point?” Marvin started turning his mask over in his hands. It was hard to remember sometimes.

“Really? I would think only a couple months.”

“Doc, I’ve been living with you for two years and haven’t once taken off my mask. You didn’t think there was a reason for that?”

“Ah yes.” Tentatively, Schneep reached out and tapped Marvin in the middle of his forehead. “What is this?”

“Okay, that’s enough.” Marvin yanked his head back.

“Excuse me, I am concerned! That looks like bone!”

“It’s not bone, it’s just—making my first mask out of ceramic was a really bad idea, ‘cause even magically-enhanced pottery can still shatter.”

“Why do you have ceramic embedded in your face?!”

Marvin resisted the urge to touch the places where the shards had ended up lodging. He had them memorized by now, mostly because of the dead spot in his nerves there. Forehead, upper cheeks, one between his nose and left eye, one above his right. He could have dealt with the rest of the scars, if only the shards weren’t there. “Look, I was wearing my old mask at the time this happened, it broke, I ended up getting pieces of porcelain fucking stuck to my face, can we move on?!”

Schneep raised his hands in surrender, stepping back. “Okay, okay, fine!”

“Thank you.” Marvin began spinning his mask around his pointer finger, using one of the eyeholes. “Anyway, can you tell if they’re infected? And can you help if they are?”

Schneep bit his lip, eyes scanning the damage. “Well, I would have to know what caused them. They look a bit like burns, but in the pattern of knife slashes. Like hot glass.”

“What?”

“Bits of broken glass, heated up so they will burn, flung at your face. That’s what it looks like. There are also parts where I am reminded of Lichtenburg figures.”

“What?” Marvin repeated, exasperated.

“When things are struck by high voltage, patterns will appear. These are not quite the same as scars of lightning, they are…bigger. But I am reminded of them.”

Marvin sighed. “You know what? Let’s just work under the assumption that someone took a hot, electrified knife and repeatedly applied it to my face, that’s probably as accurate as you’re going to get. There might also be some lingering traces of magic in there.”

Schneep rolled his eyes. “Well, I cannot do anything about that, but if they are itching and irritating you, I have some salves that may help. They are in the other back room, the storage one, if you would kindly follow me.”

“Alright, alright, but I hope you find this stuff quickly. Chase is making me watch his ex for him, and I don’t feel like getting into a shouting match with him over not actually doing it.”

* * *

It was around midnight when Stacy decided to go to bed. She’d tried to read through the file Anti had given her on the magician, but had to stomp halfway through. Some of these spells…why would anyone want to use spells like that? Instead, she switched to reading the vigilante’s file, managing to finish it. Then she realized it was way too late, and she had to get up early to make breakfast for the kids, get ready for work, take the kids to school, and go to work herself. That was only four things, but that was too much.

She was walking down the hall to her room when there was a knock on the front door.

Fear jolted through her. Who could be knocking this late at night? Nobody good, probably. She stood shock-still in the hallway, waiting for something else. When nothing happened, she swallowed her nerves and crept toward the living room and the front door. Maybe it was nothing?

When she flipped the lights on, the front room looked exactly the same as it had earlier that day. Except for one thing: there was now a brown envelope sitting on the floor, in the perfect position to have been pushed through the mail slot. Stacy slowly stepped forward. She peered through the peephole on the door, seeing nothing on the other side. So she looked down at the envelope on the floor, then bent over and picked it up. She turned it over in her hands.

There were words written on the back of the envelope. “Hello sweetheart.”

Stacy recognized that handwriting.

She collapsed on the couch, staring at the envelope, listening to her heart pounding in her ears.

He’d found her.


	13. Love Lasts / Last Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chase is determined to talk to Stacy again, despite her obvious avoidance. They finally confront each other about what's been happening, and it doesn't exactly go in Chase's favor.

He’d given her a phone number after their last meeting, telling her to call or text him if she ever got in trouble. Stacy wondered exactly how the number worked, if it led to an actual phone or if it connected to somewhere in digital space that only Anti could access. Either way, she hadn’t expected to use it so soon. It was May 20th, three days after he last showed up. She was sitting in the front room, having just dropped off the kids at school. In one hand, she clutched the letter. In the other, she typed out a one-handed text on her phone, and sent it.

And just a few minutes later, the lights overhead flickered, and Anti appeared, leaning against the television. Where he made contact with the screen, it flickered with colors. “So what’s the problem?” he asked.

Stacy didn’t say anything, just held out the letter. Anti stared at it. Then all of a sudden she wasn’t holding it anymore, he was, and he was reading it intently. His eye got narrower the longer he read. “When did this happen?”

“That same night after you told me they could be tracking me,” she said quietly. “I—I think they were.”

Anti looked up. “Do you want to keep this?” he asked, holding up the letter.

Stacy bit her lip. “I…don’t know.” She really didn’t. Obviously, it would be better to get rid of it, to move on. But it was hard. Mostly because it had actually been a really sweet letter. For a moment, she could almost forget everything that happened between the two of them, and pretend they were back in university, having the time of their lives swept up in the early years of young love. Before the stress of working two jobs to provide for the kids, before the financial problems, before the alcohol and the fights and everything else. She knew it was impossible to go back, but she liked the reminder of happier days.

“How about…I keep it for you, and you can text me if you ever want to read it again?” Anti proposed. When Stacy nodded, the letter disappeared, falling apart into fading pixels.

She took a deep breath. “I…I’m sorry for calling you over something so little. But…I just needed to talk to someone about that. Figure out what to do.” She laughed. “And also, I-I guess it would be good for you to-to get an update on the stalking situation.”

He shook his head. “Come on. It’s fine. It’s just how humans work, talking about a situation makes it less big and scary. Though I do wonder if you don’t have other people to talk to.”

“I have some friends,” she said defensively. “A lot of them I know from work now, or they’re parents to the kids’ friends. But…I don’t th-think they could help, um, with this.” She folded her arms, shrinking into the couch cushions. “Not only would it be weird to tell them I think my ex is magically stalking me, but they don’t…they don’t even know everything that happened. Just that I’m divorced and it’s a sore subject. I think Shelly assumed there was an affair somewhere. Dunno if that’s better or worse.”

Anti shrugged. “If you’re asking me for romance advice, you’re absolutely talking to the wrong person. I don’t much care for it.”

“Do you care for _any_ sort of connection?” Stacy asked impulsively. Then she regretted it when she saw how much his expression darkened. He looked over his shoulder at the television screen. Colors flashed wildly on it. “S-sorry,” she mumbled.

“Accepted,” he said, voice blank. “You can keep talking if you want.”

Stacy looked down, face getting red. She couldn’t bring herself to say anything for a while, and the room was silent except for a low electric whine. “It…it was a nice letter,” she finally said, voice so quiet she wasn’t sure he could hear her. “That’s why I didn’t know if I wanted to get rid of it. I th-thi-think the only thing that was…you know…was that there was a moment he said he couldn’t live without me. That might be…you know, a reference. Or it could just be trying to be romantic. Worked for both, the way it was written.” She sighed. “I don’t know when it happened for him. I know when it happened for me, but I don’t know when…when he stopped loving me. If he ever did in the first place.”

He was quiet, for long enough that she started wondering if she’d somehow upset him. Until he spoke again. “I think he still loves you,” he said. “Sure, it’s a dysfunctional kind of love, and his way of showing it is pretty fucked, but in his mind, he still loves you. I don’t know if that makes any of this better or worse, but I think it’s true.”

“…maybe,” she sighed. “Maybe. I don’t know.” She blinked rapidly. “Thanks, by the way. For just…listening. I know it must be interrupting something important, so I…I really appreciate it.”

“I can always catch up on security footage,” Anti shrugged. “And I can check the city’s cameras at the same time I listen to you.”

“You can?”

“Of course. I can be in multiple places at once.” He said this casually, as if he wasn’t currently breaking the laws of physics. “And so far, nothing’s happened. I don’t have anywhere to be until I need to try another dream contact tonight.”

Stacy hesitated before asking, “Dream…contact?”

The TV screen flickered with colors again. The overhead light switched off and on again. “Yes,” Anti said shortly. “It’s just…an attempt to jog some memories.”

She dropped the subject. Clearly, whatever this was, it was a bit too close to home for Anti. “Alright.” She turned around, looking out the window. “What…what are we gonna do about this? They’ve found me, and…I don’t want to…” She couldn’t find the words.

Anti was quiet, thinking. “I already gave you the phone number. That was what I planned to do about this. I _could_ go out and confront him, but it could go badly for you if word got back to the others that I’m helping you out. If you want, I could put some cameras around your house. Or even inside.”

“Maybe outside,” she said. She briefly wondered where, exactly, he got the cameras, but if he could hack bank accounts just by thinking, she figured he didn’t have any problem with breaking in to more…material places. “Just around. So you can keep a closer eye on things. Doesn’t the neighborhood have cameras by itself?”

“A few, but this is one of the safer areas so there’s some blind spots that someone could _easily_ use to sneak around undetected.”

Well, that was worrying. “Yeah, I think just around the house cameras would be helpful,” she said, standing up. “While you do that I-I’m going to go to the shop, get some food. Is that okay?”

“Hey, it’s your house. Your groceries. I don’t care.”

“Okay.” She took a deep breath. “I’ll…I’ll see you later, then.”

* * *

The grocery run to the shop should’ve been easy. But as soon as she left the house, Stacy once again felt like she was being watched. She assumed that this feeling was the result of being tracked, and since she couldn’t do much about that, she forced herself to ignore it. It faded as soon as she got to the grocery store. But she didn’t quite relax.

And it turned out she was right not to.

She was in the cereal aisle, picking up her son’s favorite sugary excuse for breakfast food. She glanced to the side for a mere moment, and saw a head duck away at the end of the aisle. It looked like someone had been peering down the stacks towards her. And she knew who it was. She’d recognize that hat anywhere.

For a moment, she stared, her feet frozen to the ground. She forced herself to take deep, even breaths. She knew it was happening. But that didn’t stop the squirmy feeling in the pit of her stomach. Her first instinct was to turn and run, but…maybe it was getting rid of the letter, maybe it was her brief conversation with Anti, it didn’t matter which. All that matters was that she realized she had a chance, right here, right now, to put a stop to this. She took a deep breath, then pushed her cart down the aisle toward the spot where she’d seen him. He wasn’t at the end, but when she turned into the next aisle, she spotted him. “Hello, Chase.”

He looked as shocked to see her as she’d been to see him. Maybe he hadn’t been expecting her to confront him. _She_ hadn’t even been expecting that. “H-hi, Stacy,” he said.

“What are you doing here?” she asked tiredly.

“Oh, uh, y’know, just getting groceries. It’s a weekly chore in—in the house.”

“You don’t have a cart,” she pointed out.

“I left it back at the beginning of the aisle. It gets heavy.”

“Chase. No more excuses.”

His mouth opened, perhaps to deliver a pre-prepared denial, but then it snapped close again. “I…wanted to see you.”

“You’ve been wanting to see me for a while, then, haven’t you?” Stacy said, staring. “Chase, I’m not blind. I know you’ve been following me.”

“I…yeah.” He shoved his hands deep in his pockets. “I know it’s creepy, but I just —I needed to make sure you were…okay. I needed to see you.”

“Have you been following the kids too?” she asked.

Chase shook his head. “No, I didn’t—they’re always around someone who would freak out. And, well, a grown man hanging around the elementary school would seem a little suspicious.” He paused. “Are they…doing okay? Physically and, like, mentally? Do they…miss me?”

They did. They’d been quieter ever since the separation. “They’re fine,” Stacy said simply. “Healthy, in both ways. And emotionally too, as far as I’m aware.”

“That’s good.” He took a deep breath. “Stacy—”

“No.” She was surprised at how firm her voice was. “Chase, I don’t want to listen to you. Last time I did, you managed to convince me to stay, and another year passed with no change at all. And if you’re—if you’re fucking _stalking_ me instead of showing up at my house like a normal person would, I think that’s a sign that everything’s still the same.” Her voice softened a little. “It’s better this way, Chase. I can’t—can’t help you the way you think I can. I can’t make everything alright just by being there and telling you it’s going to be okay. And the kids are in a better environment now, one where we don’t have to worry about them overhearing raised voices or finding empty bottles. So just…just leave, okay? Find a better way.”

Chase’s eyes widened. His hands, now out of his pockets, were shaking. “No, no you can’t—Stacy, you can’t just—everything _was_ better when we were together. We were all happy. A family.”

“At first, yeah. But things change. You changed. And I stopped being happy the way you were.” Stacy sighed. “Let’s just leave it here, please?”

He was speechless, wide-eyed. “You can’t…just leave again. At least listen to me.”

“I can’t, Chase,” she said softly. “Every time I listen to you, you convince me to stick with these…these bad habits.” She took a few steps back. “I’m…going to check out now. Don’t follow me.”

“Stacy?” He reached out, but then froze, hand dropping back to his side. “I…I love you.”

Stacy stared at him, her eyes pools of sadness. “I loved the person you were.” And with that, she turned and left. Something…something had changed. She breathed more easily now. There was still a tight knot inside her, one she’d have to work to unravel, but…it had loosened, just enough. She didn’t look behind her as she walked away.

* * *

Chase remained rooted to the ground. She…she hadn’t even heard him out. He hadn’t even been ready to talk to her yet, despite all this time trying to find the words to say. He could feel the hot tears coming, so he squeezed his eyes shut until they went away. Why…why did everyone leave? Well, it might have something to do with him. Him and the hot pile of garbage that was his personality. But she…she stayed before. What changed? Why couldn’t everything go back to the way it was before? He needed this. He needed it to be like that.

An inkling of an idea dripped down into his mind. For a moment, he recoiled. But then, thinking about it further…he’d already done it, hadn’t he?

Chase pulled out his phone, opening up his messages. He typed out a simple text: **Hey do you remember that idea you had a while ago?**

The reply was almost instantaneous. **Of course I do! Did you something happen to change your mind?**

**I guess you could say that. Not exactly tho. Im still sure i can do it, i just need her to sit down and listen to me. But shes not gonna do it shes gonna keep walking away. She just needs to stop doing that.**

**I see your problem. I’m sure I can get her to come down for a visit. You can have your chance to convince her, and if that fails, well. My original offer still stands.**

**No. This is different. I can do it on my own.**

**If you insist, Chase. I’ll swing by tonight, if that works for you.**

**Yeah, thats fine.**

Chase took a deep breath. He was really going to go through with this, wasn’t he? God, this was like something you heard on the news, not something you ever thought about doing. 

But…he’d already done worse, hadn’t he? What was one more sin, as long as it was in the name of love? And if that didn’t excuse it…well, he’d long ago accepted that he was the villain.


	14. Stories Now Told

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anti makes one more effort to get Jack to remember the truth.

Jack opened his eyes to a hospital waiting room. Pretty generic place, white walls with blue chairs and a single reception desk pressed against the wall, all lit up by a row of yellow-white florescent lights. He didn’t recognize it at all. For a moment, he just stood in the middle of the room, confused, until it clicked. “Another dream, huh?” he sighed. “Well, where are you? I know you’re here.”

The room was eerily silent for a moment. Then it was broken with an electric-sounding _snap._ The lights overhead flickered, and so did the room, becoming nothing but a void for a moment. When everything came back, Jack was no longer alone. Anti was there. Jack’s mirror image, but darker, with his patch and his scarf as always. “Well?” he asked.

“How many times do we need to go through this?” Jack said, frustration evident in his voice. “I’m fucking sick of these dreams!”

“We’re going to ‘go through this’ as many times as we need to.” Anti folded his arms. “Until you realize the truth.”

“I’m not going to let you brainwash me,” Jack responded automatically. He looked around. “Why do you choose these locations, anyway? First time was a classroom, then a creepy house, then some sort of future place, and on and on.”

“I _don’t_ choose these places,” Anti countered. “Not really. I just pluck out locations that have been on your mind lately. Because that’s r͟idi͞culoųsl͠y easy to do and it’s something you should rea̴ll͝y͏ w̧o̶rk ͟oņ. Given that you’ve been doing n̴ot͢h̴ing͡ but playing video games for the last two years, I’d say that’s where this comes from.”

It…did sort of remind Jack of that one game he played yesterday, Exiles. But that was beside the point. “Okay, whatever. Fine. Look, I’m not really feeling up to this right now, can we reschedule for another day?” He laughed nervously. The air was full of static and he…actually, he _didn’t_ feel on edge. Which…that was probably a problem.

“Feeling quippy today?” Anti remarked. He took a step closer to Jack, who took a step backward in turn. “That hasn’t been like you lately, has it? What day is it again?” One of the nearby walls flickered and fizzed like a screen, eventually showing a digital calendar. Anti didn’t look over at it, just seeming to know what it says. “Oh, that day, huh? It’s almost like I planned this to happen on the day when that s̡t͞upid̕ ̧fuckin̨g spe̢ll would be at its weakest right before it’s renewed and that’s why you’re actually acting like yourself.”

“What spell?”

Anti looked away, closing his eye and taking a deep breath. “Look, Jack, I’m running out of patience quickly. Nearly two fucking years with no progress, and you’d be too. So. I’m not going to try and convince you that I’m not trying to brainwash you. I’m not going to try and convince you that the people you think are your fri̧e͞nd̷ş are as bad as you think I am. I’m just going to ask you to do one thing.” He opened his eye, looking at Jack and taking another step forward. Jack, strangely, didn’t feel the urge to step back. “Tomorrow. Whenever they ask you to do something. Don’t.”

“I…” This was…different. Actually, Anti in his dreams had always been different than his memories told him he should be. A bit less…homicidal. “Why should I do anything you say? You could just be tricking me! Again!”

“I could,” he said calmly. “But do you think I am?”

“Yes.” The response was automatic.

“No.” Suddenly Anti was in front of him, clasping his shoulders with his hands. “Don’t just blurt out an answer. Think about what you want to say for a second, then tell me.”

“Why would I—”

“D̷o ̢i̴t͡.”

Jack instantly opened his mouth for a comeback, but hesitated. The glitch wanted to try and get to him? Fine, he’d stop and think and prove him wrong when he still answered the same. Did he think Anti was going to trick him? Going to brainwash him, like the monster he knew he was? Jack stared at him. He didn’t…look particularly menacing. Strange, yes, with his unblinking eye and the white noise that fizzed off of him at seemingly random intervals. But did he seem hostile? …not really.

“I—I need to wake up now.” Jack pulled Anti’s hands off his shoulders and backed away. “I don’t—don’t know what’s—”

“Before you do that.” Anti tilted his head. “Let me just…you might hate me more for this.”

“Wh—”

Anti lunged forward, grabbing Jack’s head on either side. The empty room was suddenly filled with white noise. Jack gasped at the sensation of static bolting through his head, like an electric prod to the mind. The room around them disintegrated, becoming nothing more than snaps of transferred signals and neurons running amok. For a moment Jack wondered if this was how Anti saw everything.

Then he shot upright in bed. He was panting heavily, soaked in sweat and uncomfortably warm. His head was pounding, each thump of pain sending an electric sensation through his temples. He looked around the dark room, eyes catching on the clock reading 6 in the morning. Early. But he didn’t think he could go back to sleep. He was too hot. So he flung the covers off and swung over to the side of the bed, where he sat with his chin in his hands and stared at nothing.

He noticed something odd. When he thought back to the dream, when he thought about Anti, it wasn’t accompanied by his usual memories of all that Anti had done. Even though he’d been told, so many times, about every time Anti had tried to kill him or worse, he could only remember the telling and not the actual occurrences. It wasn’t like the memories were suddenly missing. More like they never existed in the first place.

* * *

When Jack went downstairs for breakfast two hours later, he’d decided to not think about the dream. Anti had confronted him there often enough, ever since…some months ago. He couldn’t remember the exact details. But that was fine. It didn’t matter.

He popped into the kitchen. Chase and Jameson were already up, with Chase still in his pajamas and Jameson fully dressed, both sitting at the table. “Mornin’, Jack,” Chase said.

Jack nodded, opening the bread box and putting a couple slices in the toaster. He leaned on the counter and silently waited.

{Jack.} Jameson’s mental voice. {Are you quite alright?}

“…yeah,” Jack said. “I just…had another dream.”

Chase’s eyebrows shot up. “Well, damn. That’s not good.”

“I know, Chase. I know. I don’t want him in my head any more than you do.” Except that last night, Anti hadn’t really done much. He…never really did much, actually. Just tried to talk to him, to persuade him to leave the others. A part of Jack pointed out that this was because Anti was trying to convert him, and besides, letting Anti have access could never be a good thing, even if he hadn’t done anything _yet._ And most of Jack agreed with that part, but…something was wrong.

{You look rather worse for wear, my good sir,} Jameson said. {If you wish, I could…perhaps try to give you some advantage? Try to give you some mental defense. I’m sure I could find a way to do that. What do you say?}

His first instinct was to agree, but when he opened his mouth to say yes, the words didn’t come out. Strangely, his mind flashed back to Anti’s dream appearance. He’d asked him to not agree to anything. And though he knew it was super stupid to listen to anything Anti said…Jack didn’t feel wary of him. Not like he usually did. Why not…try a little bit? See what happened. “I’m not sure, JJ,” Jack said. “I’ve been getting along pretty well so far. He hasn’t managed to do anything yet.”

{But that doesn’t mean he can’t,} Jameson argued. {He could be just biding his time, working to slowly corrupt you. I can help prevent that.}

The toast popped up. Jack didn’t say anything as he took it, got a plate, and buttered it. He was too busy considering the facts. He was all of a sudden more trusting of Anti. That reeked of some sort of mind manipulation. But at the same time, this didn’t feel like the bad decision. In fact, it felt…right. Like he’d finally remembered a word that was on the tip of his tongue. After a moment more of internal arguing, Jack shook his head and said, “No, not yet. Maybe in the future. But not today.”

Jameson nodded. {If that’s what you want.}

Chase raised his hand slightly. “I call ‘we told you so’ rights if this all goes south.”

“Well, ask me again tomorrow. Maybe I’ll feel better about it then.”

“Fine, fine. I just…” Chase stopped for a moment, apparently gathering his thoughts. “I just don’t want anything to happen to you.”

“Nothing will happen to me in the span of one day.” Jack rolled his eyes.

“Hey, you never know.” Chase and Jameson looked at each other.

* * *

Jackie walked in just as Jack was finishing his breakfast, looking half-asleep with his hair a mess and his dark red hoodie thrown on over his pajama pants. “Hey, dude,” he yawned. “Any plans for today?”

Jack shrugged. “Thinking about checking out some asks, then going back to the grindstone.”

“More videos?”

“I mean, I want to stock up in case I get sick or something, you know?”

“Hm, makes sense.” Jackie rummaged around in the cabinets, pulling out a box of cereal. “Remember when you got sick in March? Bet you were pretty happy you had some material prerecorded.”

“Yeah.” He laughed. “Pretty happy.” He covered up the fact that he didn’t remember that at all. How long ago was March? Just two months, right? But why was he thinking of another March, farther away? “I’m gonna go up and do that now.”

“Cool. Have fun, dude.”

Back in his computer room, Jack couldn’t shake the feeling that the whole day was somehow off. More so than the dreams usually put him off. He felt not entirely connected to anything, like he was just a guest in the house instead of someone who lived here. Maybe he should have taken Jameson up on his offer; there’s a chance that could have helped. He sighed, and sat down at his computer. Just forget about it. It’s fine. Everything is fine.

And then, the first thing he saw when he booted up his blog so he could interact with the fans, was a simple question: “Hey Jack, are you okay? Mentally, I mean”. What was that supposed to mean? Of course he was. Yeah, he was a little tired, but that could be from the dream last night. He replied quickly, then went to browse the rest of the website to see what the community was up to. He’d wait for more questions to come in.

A lot of the normal fare. Fan art and a lot of memes. But then he came across something else. A post titled “Jack isn’t doing so good”. He snorted, then started reading, expecting a conspiracy theory or a theory for whatever the viewers thought he had going on with Anti. Instead, he found a very different sort of beast. The post had a couple screenshots of him from his videos, each one identified as coming from two years ago. Then screenshots from recent videos. The post went on to say that Jack was looking a lot worse than he was years ago. The author compared them, pointing out the paler skin, the suddenly more gaunt facial features, and most importantly, the distinct lack of any _real_ happiness in the recent videos.

Well, that couldn’t be right. He was a lot better now! Life kept improving, didn’t it? And even if it wasn’t he had to stay positive! For the community. And for his friends. He couldn’t let them down by suddenly taking a break.

And there was no way those earlier pictures were two whole years ago. He remembered the videos they were identified as coming from, those were only a few months old. Last year. They were from before he moved here, and he’d only celebrated one new year in this house. They didn’t have much of a celebration, though, but he did remember watching the digital clock on his computer switch over from…from…it switched to…

What year was it?

The realization hit him with so much force that he physically leaned back in his chair. He couldn’t remember what the year was. He tried to concentrate on it, but it kept slipping away into a haze of purple fog. How could he not know the year?

Jack straightened, clicking away from the website he was currently on and over to his own YouTube channel. He clicked on the last upload, scrolling down to the description and checking the upload date. 2018. It was 2018. Right.

Well, while he was here, he might as well prove to himself that the post was wrong about the dates. He searched up the name of one of the videos the post had taken screenshots from, then also checked the upload date. It—it was in 2016. That…that wasn’t possible. He’d uploaded that one in his old apartment, just before he moved to the house with the others. That was only a couple months ago. He double-checked using a couple other videos from the same period. No, they were all the same. How…how had he not known that?

It was fine. Just forget it.

He switched back over to the first website. A couple more questions had come in, most telling him to stay positive. He assured the askers that he would. But there were…a couple people worried about him. But he was fine. So he told them as much.

Another question asked about when the next Anti appearance would be. Jack sighed. As if he had any control over what that glitch did or when he decided to hijack his videos. Anti always sort of did his own thing.

He stopped his train of thought there. Thinking about Anti had brought a sort of…warm feeling. Like…fondness. What? Why?

It was probably {a result of the dream last night.} Maybe he should {have taken Jameson’s offer.} He was standing up and walking toward the door before he stopped suddenly. No, he couldn’t drop everything and go talk to the others right now. He hadn’t even gotten a video out yet. {But this seemed more important.} …did it? Did it?

Just a few more minutes. Jack turned around, very deliberately walking back to his computer and taking his seat. He’d gotten more questions. One read “You use a lot of ‘it’s fine’ when you respond to these. Usually that’s covering up the fact that things aren’t actually fine. Are you sure you’re okay? Sorry, I don’t mean to pry”.

He didn’t say “it’s fine” that much. Did he? {It didn’t matter, it’s fine.} Jack jolted as he realized he’d just thought it. He scrolled through a few of his responses. There…actually _was_ a lot of repeating “it’s fine.” That was…weird.

It was fine. Just forget it.

But it wasn’t. He wasn’t even aware he repeated himself that much, shouldn’t he be at least a little concerned?

It was fine. Just forget it.

But here he was, thinking the same things, pushing away the problem. That was a bad thing, wasn’t it? Bottling up emotions. They could explode.

{It was fine. Just forget it.}

But…something was wrong. Something had been wrong since the dream. But the more he thought about it, the more he realized the lingering sense of things being not quite normal had been around him for a while. But drowned out, hidden in his own thoughts.

{It was fine. Forget it.}

But it couldn’t be.

{It was fine. Forget about it.}

No, it wasn’t.

{It was fine. Forget about it.} {It’s fine} {Forget} {It’s fine} {Forget} {Forget} {Forget _forget forget **forget** —_

Jack screamed, throwing himself out of the chair and landing sprawled on the floor. His eyes were squeezed shut, arm flung over them, but that didn’t make the lingering purple at the edge of his vision go away. Everything was spinning, spiraling. He felt dizzy. But the memories—the _real_ memories—were coming back. Flashbulbs exploding in the back of his mind, images so much more vivid than the fog he’d been living in for— _for two years._

Jack opened his eyes, staring up at the ceiling. “I remember,” he gasped. “I remember what they did to me.”

The others—bits and pieces were falling into place. Like when he’d once seen a news report of that vigilante on TV and realized this guy looked a lot like Jackie. Or when he’d come downstairs late at night for a midnight snack and heard Chase and Schneep in the living room, casually talking about how Chase had shot someone and knocked them out, and Schneep had taken them from there. Or when he ran into the “cleaning lady” and she hadn’t said anything, just stared at him with this glassy-eyes smile until Jameson came and took her away. Or when he’d fallen asleep on the couch, only to be woken up by the muffled sound of screams that he’d thought had come from downstairs, at a time when only Marvin was still awake.

Bits and pieces that had been casually swept under the rug the moment the others realized he knew. Because he couldn’t be allowed to find out. He’d run to the police, and they’d lose—Jack suddenly realized just how many online campaigns circled through the community about missing members. 

A sick feeling suddenly rose up inside him, and he swallowed hard to keep it down. Anti was right—these people were as bad as he’d thought the glitch was. If not worse.

Anti.

They’d made him hate him.

And Anti had still tried to get him back. To break the spell.

Jack scrambled to his feet, head spinning as he looked around. The recording room was completely soundproof. He’d thought it was so that he didn’t bother the others when he yelled, but maybe it was so he couldn’t hear anything going on in the rest of the house. This fucking house. He had to get out.

Jack practically ran to the door, flinging it open. Nobody was in the hallway beyond. Good, because if they’d noticed him, panicky and shaking, they might have caught on. He’d have to proceed carefully. The last times he’d found out, they always noticed he’d remembered and put him back under. So he had to pretend that everything was…fine. He leaned against the door frame and took deep breaths until he was sure he at least looked calm. Then he started down the hall toward the stairs.

The living room was empty except for Chase, who was lying on the couch and scrolling through something on his phone. The windows showed a twilit world outside. It was already evening. When did it get so late? Jack shook his head, eyeballing the front door. He was extremely tempted to just run for it, but Chase was still there. He could put a stop to this easily. So Jack simply walked across the room. “Hey Chase, I’m going for a walk,” he said. “I’ve been inside all day, need some fresh air.”

Chase glanced up. “Cool, bro. I’ll come with you.”

A flurry of scared butterflies twisted Jack’s stomach. “Oh, you don’t have to.”

“You sure? I mean, you’ve been alone all day, too, some company could do you good.” Chase pocketed the phone and stood up, stretching.

The movement drew Jack’s attention to the—since when did Chase have a gun?! That was illegal in this country. No sooner had Jack thought this than he was assaulted by a series of memories, previous times he’d noticed the gun until Chase asked Jameson if he could somehow make Jack ignore it altogether. He could. From then on, Jack’s eyes had merely skipped over it.

Jack pushed himself back on track. Sure, gun was a problem, but it wouldn’t be if he could get out of here without Chase following. “I mean, I appreciate the gesture,” he said, making sure his voice sounded perfectly casual. “But I don’t really feel like talking right now.”

Chase smiled. “Bro, we don’t have to talk at all, just hang out. I won’t bother you if you don’t want me to. Just want to keep you company, haven’t seen you all day, y’know?” Obviously assuming Jack was going to agree, he walked right up to him. “So? Should we go?”

Jack was ninety percent sure Chase could see his pulse, his heart was beating so fast. Pushing the issue further would definitely raise Chase’s suspicions, but he couldn’t let him follow. There had to be a way out… “Sure. Let’s go,” Jack said, smiling.

When Chase turned to walk toward the door, Jack’s hand darted forward. His fingers wrapped around the handle of the gun and pulled it out of its holster. Chase froze at the sudden lack of a familiar weight, and when he turned around Jack was pointing the gun at him. “Wh—Jack, what the hell are you doing?!”

“Sorry, Chase,” Jack said. “Well. No, not really. Because I’m getting the fuck out of here.” He started backing toward the front door, never turning away from Chase.

“What do you—?” Chase’s eyes widened. “You know.”

“I know that I’ve been magically brainwashed and tricked into thinking this is normal when I’m actually living in a house with a bunch of people who are criminals at the best and multiple murderers at worst? Yeah, no shit!” Jack laughed hysterically. “And now that I know, I know that I’m leaving.”

“No, Jack, please, you don’t understand!” Chase stepped forward, hands half-raised. “It’s not like that!”

“How?! How is it ‘not like that’?!” Jack was only a few feet from the door now.

“Just—just give me a chance to explain! At least listen!” Chase’s eyes were wet with desperation and pleading. “Just please don’t leave. Please don’t.”

“Uh, no, I’m leaving. And you’re gonna stay here, or else…you know!” Jack wasn’t sure he could actually shoot Chase, even in a life-or-mind-control situation. Part of him still saw one of his best friends. And besides, he didn’t know if he had the guts.

“Jack—”

The front door swung open.

Jack stiffened, looking over his shoulder to see Jackie enter the house and immediately freeze in place. He was wearing the same outfit as the vigilante on the news, right down to the sheathed throwing knives on the belt. Jack immediately cursed himself out for that, because of course Jackie would be dressed as the vigilante, the two of them were the same person. “What’s…?” Jackie couldn’t seem to finish the question, eyes darting between Chase, Jack, and the gun.

“Stay back!” Jack backed away, unfortunately ending up further into the house. He kept pointing the gun back and forth between Chase and Jackie. “Just—just let me get out and I won’t—won’t do anything crazy.”

Jackie instantly caught on. “This was always a bad idea,” he hissed at Chase.

“Well, I couldn’t think of a better one!”

“You’re a bit of an idiot at times, you know that?”

“Jackie?” Schneep poked his head through the front door. “What is happening?”

Oh god, that was three of them in one room. Even with a gun, Jack was starting to feel outnumbered. And if Marvin showed up, or even worse, Jameson, then that would be it. Game over. The others were standing between him and the front door, so he couldn’t go out there. Jack took a few steps backwards, down the hall leading to the staircase, then broke out into a run, ignoring the shouts behind him. Maybe he could jump out a window or something. Even from the second story. That would still be better.

{I heard a commotion, everything alright?}

Jack skidded to a halt with a startled yelp. Jameson was standing on the stairs, looking very confused. Jack didn’t even look at him. Don’t take any chances. Don’t take any chances with forgetting. But with Jameson on the stairs, there wasn’t really anywhere else to go except—

Fuck. Fine, he’d take it. He darted to the left, towards a closed door. Flinging it open, he saw a short hallway leading to a set of stairs leading down. He heard running footsteps behind him. He didn’t think, just ran. And climbed down, down, down…

He came out into a hallway with a couple doors on either side and one at the end. He remembered the first on the left was the library, better not risk going in there in case Marvin was inside. So he pulled open the first door to the right instead, darting inside the moment the gap was big enough and slamming it closed behind him.

The room he’d ended up in was dark, but he found the light switch easily enough in its usual place next to the door. This place had plain plaster walls and a concrete floor. A single lamp hung from the ceiling. The only furniture were three beds with metal frames and minimal bedding: sheets and a single pillow each. It was empty as of right now, but Jack knew it usually wasn’t. He leaned against the door, holding the gun close. He could hear footsteps and talking outside. Then, the sound of a door opening and the talking turned into two people shouting at each other.

Jack gave the room another glance. It…hadn’t been the best idea to run into the basement. But he’d been panicking, and it was the only place none of them were blocking him from at the time. And now he was stuck here. But he had a gun, and if he was careful he could keep them all from coming inside at the same time. Now he just needed to figure out what to do with those facts.

He was eyeing the bed frames and wondering if he should barricade the door when he heard a knock on it. “Jack…? You in there?”

“No, I disappeared into the shadow world,” Jack growled. “Leave me alone Jackie!”

“Look, I never thought this was a good idea,” Jackie said patiently. “And you have every right to hate us. But you’re, uh, kinda stuck in there. So I think you should at least hear us out.”

“Oh, you never thought this was a good idea, huh? Congratulations, you’re a goddamn saint for _still standing by and doing nothing to stop it._ I said leave. Me. Alone!”

More quiet talking on the other side of the door. After a while of this, Jack suddenly felt the door giving way behind him. Someone was pulling it open. No! No, they couldn’t—Jack spun around and grabbed the handle, holding the door closed. For a moment, it seemed balanced. Until a sudden burst of energy pulled the door open, just enough for a single person to slip inside. Jack wasted no time in slamming the door closed again before spinning around, aiming the gun at the newcomer, who was now standing further inside the room.

Chase raised his hands. “Jack, please, you don’t want to do this.”

“Don’t want to what?” Jack demanded “Get out? Leave? Or do you mean shoot you? Because the longer this goes on, the more I want to do that third thing.” That was a bluff. Jack still wasn’t sure he wanted to shoot Chase. But he very obviously disengaged the safety on the gun, making sure Chase could see.

Chase exhaled slowly. “Jack. Look. It’s Anti. He’s messing with your head, making you turn against us. I don’t know what false memories he planted in there, but none of them are true. I wouldn’t be surprised if he wants you to shoot us and flee, giving him an entrance to swoop in and take you.”

Jack was already shaking his head. “Mm-mmm. No. You use this excuse all the time, then you hand me over to J—to Jameson, on the basis that he’ll help me get mentally stronger, and then I just end up hypnotized out of my mind again.”

“JJ can’t hypnotize people, Jack,” Chase pleaded. “He’s a telepath, nothing more. That’s why he knows a lot about how to mentally defend yourself, but it’s one-way communication. You know this. We’ve told you this so many times. And now you’ve stopped trusting us? How do you even know that whatever new memories you suddenly got are real?”

Jack blinked. “They…they feel right. Like they filled in the missing pieces of a puzzle.”

“But that could be him tricking you into thinking that, right?”

“I…I mean…”

“Right?”

“Y-yeah, I guess,” Jack mumbled.

“And that’s exactly what’s happening!” Chase took a step forward. Jack realized he’d let the gun drop a bit, and quickly raised it again. Chase stopped. “Look, it’s hard to tell what’s real, I get it. But you just have to trust us, Jack. Think about it. How long have we known each other? Years. You’d think you’d pick up on homicidal tendencies in that space of time.”

Jack lowered the gun a bit more. Yes, you would think that. Chase hadn’t ever acted the least bit hostile in all the years he’d known him.

“And now look at whatever memories Anti planted. I bet they show you two really close, but now think about the dreams you’ve had with him. He’s not exactly friendly, is he?”

The gun lowered more. That made sense.

“So it’s not real, Jack. It’s just a trick, an illusion. Please…you just have to remember. We’ll help you.” Chase smiled gently. “That’s what friends are for, right? And we’re friends.”

They were indeed friends. They’d known each other for so long, didn’t Jack owe it to Chase, at least, to hear them out? The gun lowered almost completely. Jack blinked slowly, clearing the spirals from his vision—

Spirals.

He didn’t realize his eyelids were drooping until they snapped open again. No spirals. Spirals were bad, they were what led to losing your will. Jack jerked his head back up from where it had been in the process of falling. {Chase’s} eyes widened, and he rushed forward. Jack screamed “No!” The gun raised, and—

{ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /—}

_BANG!_

Jack barely managed to get the shot off before his legs decided they didn’t want to support him anymore. He fell to the floor unceremoniously, limp as a puppet whose strings had been cut. The concrete ground was unwelcoming, and his entire right side hurt from the impact of hitting it. His lifeless fingers couldn’t hold on to the gun anymore, and it clattered against the concrete. He couldn’t move. He tried, practically screaming at his limbs to so much as twitch, but there was no response. He was just left staring at Jameson—it had been him the whole time, not Chase, using some sort of mental trick to make Jack think it was him—slumped on the floor against the foot of the middle bed. His expression was vaguely shocked, and his right hand was pressed to the left side of his chest. Underneath it, a steadily spreading stain was dyeing his vest an even darker red.

The door swung open again, this time fully wide. “James—!” Jack watched, head unmoving, as Marvin rushed into the room, stepping right over Jack’s fallen body to kneel next to Jameson. “Were you hit?!” He’d never heard so much… _emotion_ in Marvin’s voice.

Someone sat down next to Jack and shook him. “Hey. Jack? Look at me.” Even if Jack wanted to look at Chase, he absolutely couldn’t. Jameson must have hit him with some sort of desperate mental blast, knocking him out of commission. “Jesus, what happened to you?” Chase muttered. Jack remained limp even as Chase pulled him into a sitting position, wrapping his arms around him like a child holding their favorite teddy bear. Jack’s head lolled to the side.

Jackie and Schneep entered the room next. Or, well, Jackie did. Schneep took one step inside, looked from the bloodstain on Jameson’s vest to Jack’s limp body, then left again, muttering something about getting supplies to fix this. Jackie, meanwhile, gave Jack a quick once-over, determined there was no immediate danger, then crouched on Jameson’s other side. “Did he shoot you? What happened? We heard a shot.”

Jameson shook his head.

“Bull fucking shit he didn’t shoot you!” Marvin half-yelled. “I can see the stain! God, Schneep went to get his materials, didn’t he? If you could just—fuck, this is the first time in forever I wish I still knew how to heal other people—”

Jameson shook his head again, propping himself up further against the bed. He reached inside his vest and pulled out his silver pocket watch. The bullet had lodged in it, stuck on the edge, not quite going through. The watch was covered in blood and…the longer Jack looked at it, the longer it looked like the blood was coming _from_ the watch.

Marvin leaned back. “What the fuck, Jameson,” he whisper-gasped.

“Well, I guess it didn’t entirely hit you,” Jackie mused. “But there’s still a whole lot of blood, I wouldn’t be surprised if part of the bullet broke off and lodged in there, or if the impact of the shot pushed the watch back into your chest. What’s it feel like? One small thing, or an impact from a bigger thing?”

No answer. Jameson merely stared at Jackie.

Jackie stared back. “Are you…not going to say anything?”

“It’s the watch,” Marvin explained. “It’s…well. Basically, some of his powers are tied to it.”

“Including the telepathy?” Jackie clarified.

“Ehhh. In a way. It’s…ehh. This isn’t the time. But more importantly—” Marvin glanced over to where Chase was sitting, holding Jack. “A lot of the mind tricks depend on it. So…we’re not gonna be able to put him back under until we manage to heal Jameson and the watch.” Jameson nodded in agreement.

Chase sighed. “Y’know, I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.” Jack was very conscious that Chase was holding him tighter. He wanted to scream at him to let go, but his vocal cords were not responding.

Schneep walked back into the room carrying a small bag. “I did not know the extent of everything so I brought a basic kit,” he said, sitting cross-legged on the ground across from Jameson. Jameson, in turn, shook his head and pointed urgently over to Jack. “Oh? You think that is more important? Well, if you insist.” Schneep spun around. “What seems to be the problem here?”

“Looks like wakeful doll paralysis,” Marvin muttered. “Magick thing. Don’t quite get it, but James has talked about it before. Basically, you shoot a bunch of mental noise at someone and they go limp, but are still awake and aware. See? Jack’s eyes are moving. It’ll wear off in anywhere from an hour to a day, depending on…I dunno that part. Probably strength of the something-or-other.”

Schneep frowned. “Well, that does not seem to be such a problem, if it wears off.”

Jameson sighed. He pulled the medical bag toward him, searched around in it, then pulled out a syringe and handed it to Schneep, whose eyes suddenly lit up with understanding. “Ah, we are talking about the sleepy times now. I see, I see.”

Marvin hissed. “Okay, do that quick, then, there are more important things to be doing right now.”

Jackie made a strange strangled squawk. “I’m gonna—I’ll just—I gotta go. Back out on patrol, I barely even started. Henrik, you have to go back to the clinic too, now that you found the bag. Uh. Yeah.” Without another word, he stood up and left.

“What was that about?” Schneep asked, staring after him.

“Oh, well, Jackie’s righteousness strikes again.” Chase shrugged. “Not a fan of the whole…thing here. But there’s not another way. Is there, Jack?” He pulled Jack closer to him, causing his head to roll forward. “You’re gonna keep leaving. And you—you can’t just abandon your friends, you know? You can’t just—just leave people who are already…I’ll explain everything. I promise. You’ll see that this was the only way.”

Jack very much seriously doubted that.

“Yes, yes, you will have some time to explain while we fix Jameson,” Schneep brushed aside. “But for right now, we cannot have him in the way.”

Because of the position of his head, Jack didn’t see the needle coming before it was suddenly pushed into his neck. Only a few moments passed before everything started to blur and swim, dark waters surrounding his vision.

Before the darkness consumed his sight, he wondered if there was a way out of this. He wondered if Anti would know what happened. And he wondered what the glitch would do with these new developments.


	15. Patch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the events of the last chapter, Anti gets ready to take action.

Anti glitched into the hub, emotionally exhausted after the long night. It was strange, for the longest time he thought he couldn’t get tired, even mentally, but then he met these bastards and suddenly he knew the definition of “worn out.” Whatever. He’d spent the last twelve hours or so running around and making sure they weren’t causing trouble, and he’d say that was worth it. He was behind on security footage from the house, though. It could probably wait a few more minutes while he changed the bandages on his neck.

Something bonked the back of his head, and he spun around. “Sam,” he greeted. “Hey.”

Sam ran into the side of his face. Several times.

“What are you doing?” He gently swiped them away. “I know this means something’s up, but it can wait a bit. I can feel the wet cloth on my throat and it’s very distracting.”

Sam leveled him with a narrow glare that said _Well if you just let it heal like you did with every other wound you wouldn’t have to do that._

“Don’t give me that look!” he scolded. “I don’t have to explain my reasoning to you _again._ Come get me after I deal with this.”

Anti glitched away to another room, only for Sam to dart forward and land on his shoulder just before he broke apart, coming along for the ride. The minute their particles reformed they began insistently thwapping his cheek with their optic nerve. He scowled. “ _What?!_ What? Is it the security footage? You saying I have to check that _now?_ ”

Sam bobbed once, the symbol for yes.

“Fine.” He glitched once again, materializing in the room with the monitors. Technically if he wanted to, Anti could be in two places at once and constantly keeping up with the footage, but that could mess with his concentration if he was doing something more difficult at the same time. So he had to constantly rewind the footage whenever he had a spare moment.

With a twitch, the live feed shown on the monitors froze, and began rewinding. Sam flew off his shoulder and began hovering next to his head, nerve-tail flicking anxiously. “Oh look, the same sort of shit is happening,” Anti muttered with a glance at them. A few minutes passed, and Anti grew impatient, speeding up the film more. “I don’t know what you’re so—”

Wait. Something was different.

Anti paused the footage. He’d gone too far past…whatever that was, so he fast-forwarded a bit and turned on the sound. He was looking at the footage from the living room camera. The timestamp read 7:02 p.m., and the doctor and the vigilante had already left for their nightly occupations. Chase was lying on the couch, and Anti flipped through the other cameras real quick to see Jameson in his room and Marvin in the library. Then he switched back to the living room.

He watched Jack enter the picture and say he was planning on going for a walk. Chase immediately attached himself to him, like he did. But Jack…was a bit more reluctant than he usually was on occasions like this. Anti leaned closer to the screen.

Jack grabbed the gun. Anti let the footage resume its normal speed and went totally silent as he watched Jack confront Chase. A grin split his face. “It ̛wo̴rk̨ed!” He laughed. “It actually worked!” He’d taken a bit of a risk, cleaning Jack’s neural passages of the false memories. There was a chance the spell could’ve snapped back against that and done some mild damage. But he was done with waiting and trying gentle persuasion. Clearly it wasn’t getting him anywhere. So, he felt the risk was probably worth it. And to fight against any possible side effects, he planned for the dream to happen the night before the spell was about to be renewed, when it would be at its weakest. 

But things went south quickly. The hero and the doctor came home, even though they’d barely left, and Jack panicked and ran. He saw Jameson upstairs and took the only available option: downstairs. “Jack, what are you doing?!” Anti leaned forward further, actually putting his hands on the screen, his palms fizzing with glitches, almost going into the screen. “He’s not that hard to get past! Just shove him away!” Well, it wasn’t like Jack knew that. And he’d just woken up from a two-year long spell, his brain was likely scrambled, not to mention probably freaked out by seeing the guy who was behind it.

But going into the basement? That was really the worst choice, as it was a dead end without even windows to climb out of. Anti switched to the camera he’d put in the basement hallway, watching Jack run into the first room to the right and slam the door behind him. The others were right on his heels. They talked among themselves for a little bit, and then Marvin came out of the library and demanded to know what was going on, and then Jackie explained to him in the most annoyed, anger-filled tone possible, and then those two shouted for a bit. Everyone suddenly went silent, though, and looked over at Jameson, listening to whatever mental words he had to say.

Anti glared at his image on the screen. God, he wished there was some way to pick up on those projections. Sadly, he couldn’t intercept them through the cameras, especially not on past footage. But he could figure out what was happening well enough. He watched Jackie try and fail to appeal to Jack, then try to force the door open. After it failed to budge, Chase helped him pull it open enough for Jameson to slip inside.

He switched to the camera in the room. It was obvious that Jameson was putting on an illusion for Jack. Luckily, cameras couldn’t be fooled by mind tricks, and neither could Anti, if he’d been there in person. “Don’t you fucking ḑar̨e̡ let him inside,” Anti growled. “Don’t do it. Keep your eyes open.” He was so close to the screen, particles from his body were constantly flowing between him and the pixels on the monitor.

For a moment, it looked like Jameson _was_ winning. Anti was getting ready to scream, only for Jack to suddenly snap out of it and fire the gun. Everyone burst into the room at that, Chase latched onto Jack while Marvin and Jackie went to help Jameson, who—Anti threw his head back and laughed. “You lucky little Irishman, you actually hit the watch!” The best place to hit. Jameson would be out of commission until that talisman could be repaired.

Jack was still stuck in the house, however. After a while, the others ended up leaving him in that room, locking it behind them as they left. They all went upstairs to the living room. Anti turned up the sound to listen closely to their conversation.

“It will last until morning,” the doctor was saying. “But I must admit, I do not know what to do once that time comes around.”

“I mean.” Jackie was playing with his hair. “We could just…let him go.”

“Yes, good idea,” Marvin drawled. “Let the one guy who now knows about every-fucking-thing we did go out into the world still armed with this information. We’re gonna have the police and maybe even the magic police in here in no time, and the wards aren’t built to withstand a concentrated assault, just keep this place hidden.”

“Well, maybe you should’ve made wards that could do that, then,” Jackie snapped. “Look. This whole thing was a shitty thing to do. And now we have a chance to un-do it. If you’re so worried about him giving away secrets, then find some way to make him forget them, or be unable to tell them, I’m sure you have spells to do that. Still be pretty bad, but at least he wouldn’t be stuck here, like we kidnapped him, which, I’ll remind you, _we technically did._ ”

“And?” Marvin demanded. “Then what? We now know spells like that can break. And once they do, even if he doesn’t tell anyone, he’s still going to disappear and we’ll never see him again.”

“Wow. Didn’t know you _cared_ so much about not seeing Jack again.”

“I—shut the fuck up, I don’t. But—but Chase does! We should probably ask him about this.” 

At this, everyone looked at Chase, who was standing in the corner of the room with his arms folded, unusually quiet. And he stayed that way, looking away from the others, for quite a while. Until eventually he opened his mouth, closed it, then opened it again and said, “…we can’t—can’t undo this, Jackie. We have to…keep going.”

Jackie’s voice softened. “Chase, I know how you feel about him. But you want him to be happy, right? Did he _sound_ happy back there?”

Chase didn’t say anything for a moment. “…he just…he can’t leave. Like everyone else does. I-I-I know that there’s…there’s still something there. We’re still friends. I just…need to remind him. I can do it.”

“Chase, are we not your friends?” the doctor asked.

“I didn’t say that. But…it-it’s not the same thing. I don’t know how…just it is. And I can…I can convince him that it’s still the same.”

Silence. Jackie sighed. “Alright. Fine. If that’s what you think. I still stand by what I say, but I’ll drop it for now. _For now._ I claim the right to try and talk you out of this later.” He looked around. “Now what?”

Marvin glanced at Jameson. “Well, we gotta find some way to fix…that whole situation.”

“I trust you two can do that,” the doctor said. “But Chase, in the meantime, I must remind you about the other one. Maybe you would like to talk to her?”

_The other one?_

Anti paused the footage, separating himself from the screen. Sam, previously hovering, landed on his shoulder. No. He couldn’t have. Quickly, he rewound the footage once more, to back before the incident with Jack, staring intently at the screen. People came and went, travelling throughout the house. Until, about 4:00 according to the timestamp, when Jameson and Chase entered the house through the front door, accompanied by a woman with curly shoulder-length blonde hair.

“Yo̸u a̴b̨soluţe͡ ̵ba̕sta҉r͝d͢!” Anti screamed. He banged his fist against the screen so hard it partially sank into it, becoming part energy. “I can’t believe I thought you wouldn’t stoop to that! The bar was so low, and you still didn’t manage to jump over it!”

He stepped back, spinning on his heel and dissolving into pixels, reforming in a new room. He’d barely set this up the night before last, all the equipment and screens were still shiny and new. Still just as easy to tap into, though. He blinked, and the screens flickered to life, showing the feed from the new security cameras he’d set up around Stacy’s neighborhood. He began rewinding, back to about 4:00 yesterday. And there they were. Chase and the fucking hypnotist, strolling down the street while he’d been too busy running around, making sure that the city was prepared for the next night of vigilantes, magicians, hypnotists, and underground doctors.

He switched to the next camera. Chase and Jameson were knocking on the door to Stacy’s house. He saw a flicker in the window, but there was no answer otherwise. That didn’t stop Chase and Jameson from fiddling with the doorknob, eventually getting it open. Because of course one of them knew how to pick locks, maybe even both of them, he wouldn’t be surprised. They went into the house and closed the door behind him. A few moments passed. Something hit the window with a _thump,_ but otherwise it was silent. Until a minute later, when the two of them walked back out with Stacy in tow.

Anti growled, the sound coming out laced with a crackle that sounded almost like static. “Sam, we need to see what happened in there,” he said, glancing down at the eye still on his shoulder. “Hold on.” One glitch later, and the hub went dark the moment its source of power had left.

He materialized in Stacy’s living room, shaking off the effects of using the TV as the source he’d connected to. Everything in here looked pretty okay. The only thing odd was that a book was lying on the back of the couch, open. As if it had been thrown at something but missed and hit the window, landing on the couch once it bounced off. Anti frowned, glitching into the dining room.

“Trev, look! He’s back!”

Ah yes. The kids. Both of them were sitting at the table, coloring books and markers spread out before him, eyes wide as they stared at Anti’s sudden appearance. Sam perked up, flying over and landing on top of the daughter’s head, who giggled. “Oh, it’s you two,” Anti said. “I’m looking for your mother. Where is she?”

The son shrugged. “I dunno. She left.”

“Really? What happened?”

“I dunno.”

“Trev’s just upset because Dad was here yesterday and not today,” the daughter said.

“Hm.” Anti tried his best to not scowl. Apparently, according to Stacy, it upset kids to see adults angry. He had no idea how accurate that was, he didn’t have any experience with being a kid. “Why was he here?”

“Okay, so, we were in the living room,” the daughter started, “doin’ homework. And suddenly he knocked on the door, and I know Dad’s voice even though it’s been a long time, and he said he wanted to talk to Mom. She looked out the window and then ducked, and she told us to go into the other room, and we didn’ want to because we wanted to see Dad, but she said she’d take away our dessert priv’l’jes so we did, but we stayed to listen. And we heard the door open, and Mom was yelling, and Dad was talking, and Dad said he just wanted her to listen and he didn’ want to do this, but I dunno what ‘this’ was. And Mom threw a book, and she yelled ‘get out of my head!’ and I dunno what that means, and then she yelled ‘get away from me!’ But then she went really quiet, and Dad talked more but it was too quiet, and then they both left.”

“You didn’t talk to your Dad?” Anti asked.

The son spoke up. “Nah. He said something like ‘what about the kids’ and then he said ‘there’s always time’ and then he said ‘fine but I’m coming to see them tonight’ and then he said ‘fine, tomorrow’ and then he left.” He looked down at the table surface. “I dunno why he didn’ say hi.”

“Maybe he was in a hurry,” Anti said absentmindedly. “Maybe there was an emergency he needed your mother for.”

“But he couldn’ say hi? And he said he would be back tomorrow, and today is tomorrow! Why isn’ he here?”

“Maybe something came up. Don’t ask me, I don’t know anything about your father.” The last statement came out a little bitter. “Do you kids need to, like, eat?”

“It’s not dinnertime yet,” the daughter said. “But we’re hungry. Yesterday we ate all the cereal when Mom didn’t come back before dinnertime. And we stayed up late. I’m tired. Will Mom be back today?”

“I don’t know,” Anti shrugged. “Maybe tonight. Do you know how to make food? Like, sandwiches or something?”

“Do you?” the son asked, glaring.

“No.”

The son was surprised by that. “But…you’re a grown-up. Grown-ups make food.”

“They do if they need to. I’ve never needed to.” Anti glared across the dining room into the adjoined kitchen. “I guess you could scavenge or some shit like that, like you did yesterday.”

“You said a bad word!” The daughter gasped.

“I know.” He kept glaring at the kitchen. “I bet if you use the stools you can reach the upper cabinets if you need to.” Something poked the back of his head and he turned around to see Sam, hovering really close to him. “What?”

Sam zoomed back to the kids and circled around them, giving Anti a happy look.

“You want to stay with them?” Anti asked. When Sam bobbed yes, he shrugged. “Fine. For tonight only. I’ll be back soon. You kids, take a nap or something. Sam, can you keep them safe?” Sam bobbed again. “Alright. See you again later.” And Anti glitched away.

An instant later, he was back in the hub. The first thing he did was grab his knife from nowhere and throw it at the nearest monitor, where it landed deep in the screen with a shattering crash. “You know, ͡Br̨o͠dy, for someon͏e wh͟o͏ claims to love͏ the kids so much, you sure did ͏l͏eave͏ them without a҉n͏yone to ͟ta̧k̸ȩ c̷are̶ ̷of them!” He shouted to nothing. “What, did your curren̨t ̛ob̸s̢ess̢io͝ns͢ get in the way of ͏your ob̧se҉ss̶ion͢ ͡wi͟th̶ t̕he̢m?” After a moment of silence, he laughed. “Oh, that’s probably e͏x͢ac͝t̴ly what happened! Spent all yesterday talking with your wife, then the thing with Jack happened, and now you’re so concentrated on those two that you forgot about your kids, t̢he ̧t̛i̧ny͏ ̨hum̕an͞s wh̨o̷ de͟pęn͞d ͞on̨ ̢y͞o̢u. Gods, Brody. No wonder the government found you guilty of neglect and took them away.”

He stared at the screen he’d flung the knife into, which was now flickering wildly with colors and broken pixels. With a thought, he shut off the power to it and it went dark. His head swung over to another monitor, and he switched on the live feed from the house. Just in time to catch Marvin and Jameson leaving, off to find a way to repair the watch. A quick flash through the other cameras revealed that the hero and the doctor were still home, in the kitchen, Chase was pacing through the upper floor hallway, clearly nervous, and Jack was still locked in the room from yesterday. He looked…angry, but the sort of angry that you become when you’re too scared to even let it show how afraid you were. Another quick glance through the cameras showed Stacy was in the basement too, in another room. She just looked scared, sitting on the bed in the room with her knees pulled to her chest. A quick rewind showed there hadn’t been much harm done to her outside of a brief talk with her ex.

If he just waited until 7:00, the other two would leave, and it would just be Chase there. They still hadn’t upgraded the wards against him. Or at least, not enough. They kept underestimating how easy it was for him to break through them.

He looked back at the broken screen. He had a reflection in it. It was…odd to see. Being solid was not his default state, so it always threw him off guard to see reflections and shadows. His unblinking eye didn’t look away from the reflection as he unwrapped the scarf from around his neck, letting it drop to the floor. Next came the bloodstained bandages, also dropped.

And then there was the eye-patch. The one he’d never gone without, the one he hadn’t willingly taken off in…it must be over ninety years now. He reached up and slowly undid the knotted straps holding it in place. The patch was pulled off, held for a moment more, then fell unceremoniously to the ground.

A bright green light flared into being, accompanied by an almost electrical humming. And Anti smiled. “S̡̕ee҉ y͟͠ou̶͢ ̛ş̶o̵͟o͏n̸̕,̕ ̵̨͞C̛͢h͝aşe̵̷.”

The shadows stretched, every electronic in the hub went haywire, all lighting up with green. Reality bent until it broke, splinters of pixels crashing against each other in a cacophony of glitches.

And then it was over. All that was left was a faint red glow…and the shadow of a laughing grin.


	16. What He Really Is

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chase, alone in the house, tries desperately to get Jack to listen to him. But then, a glitch arrives...

“You guys can’t, like…wait until the others get back?” Chase asked.

“What, scared to be home alone?” Jackie asked, tugging on his mask. “It’ll be fine, dude. Last night was fine, tonight’s gonna be fine too. And if you start to feel a little…I don’t know, nervous, then you can always just. You know.” When Chase didn’t look reassured, Jackie sighed. “Look, we go out every night, you know this. Marvin and Jameson said they’d be back in a couple hours. You can manage two hours alone with them.”

“…alright,” Chase muttered. He still wasn’t sure he could, but he knew there would be no convincing these two.

“Jackie! Hurry! I am going to be late and I do not want to leave without you!” Schneep was hovering by the front door.

“Late to what? The place doesn’t even open until you get there to—okay, you know what? Never mind.” Jackie gave Chase a quick one-armed hug. “It’s going to be fine. See you in the morning.” And with that, he crossed the room to join Schneep, and the two of them set off into the night.

Chase sighed, then stopped leaning against the wall and walked over into the kitchen. From there, he opened one of the high-up cabinets and pulled out a bottle of whiskey and a glass. He wanted to do it. He did. But he needed to calm his nerves first.

It took a while, but eventually he felt ready. The walk to the basement stairs seemed longer than usual, as did the journey downwards. Once he reached the underground hallway, he considered his options, eyes darting between two doors. After a frozen moment, he chose the first one on the right. Jameson had given him the key to the room, which he now took out of his pocket and used to unlock the door. He stood there for a minute with his hand on the handle, taking deep breaths. Then, quickly, he turned the knob, pulled open the door just wide enough, darted inside, and pulled it shut behind him.

He shut it just in time. Someone slammed into the closed door, and the only reason it didn’t open again was because Chase was pulling on the handle, keeping it shut. “Calm down,” Chase said. “It’s just me.”

“Oh, ‘just you’? ‘Just you,’ huh?” Jack scowled. “Get out of the way.”

“I can’t do that.” Chase was standing in front of the door, the handle directly behind his back.

“I think you can!”

“Well, I mean, I’m physically able to, but, uh…if I do that, we won’t get to talk.” While he was speaking, Chase passed the key he was still holding from one hand to another, and locked the door. He wasn’t sure why this room could be locked from both sides, but he was sure Jameson had a reason.

Jack’s eyes narrowed the moment he heard the lock click. Chase swallowed the sudden knot in his throat. “Okay, fine. What do you want to talk about? Because it doesn’t matter what the fuck it is, I’m not going to listen.” As if to prove this, Jack turned around and walked a few feet away, folding his arms.

“Look, you deserve an explanation—”

“Oh, do I?! I don’t think any explanation could really excuse this shit. Unless your explanation is ‘I wanted to fuck with my _former_ best friend’s head.’”

Chase made a strange, strangled squeak. “No, that’s not what—look, just listen to what I have to say.”

Jack didn’t respond to that, merely stayed where he was, back to Chase.

“Okay. Okay.” Chase took a deep breath. “I was really excited when I found out we’d moved to the same city. I thought, hey, we could reconnect. And we were! But then you…you started to change. You were always busy, and every time I called you always had something planned with someone else. Jack, that was…that was so _scary._ I’d just lost my family, any attempts I made to get new friends always failed, everything was going downhill with the channel, my job, and these guys were no help, they tried to support, but it just wasn’t helping. I got desperate. I just…went to the last resort.”

After a moment of silence, Jack turned around. “You know, that’s not how I remember it at all. I don’t know about you but _I_ thought we were still pretty good friends. The problem here is that you think me having a life outside of you somehow means I don’t like you anymore. And that couldn’t be further from the truth.” He paused. “I mean, guess what? Kidnapping, manipulating, and brainwashing someone isn’t going to make them like you either! So maybe you should’ve thought through your _numerous other options_ before going to ‘the last resort.’”

“Jack, you still don’t get it!” Chase pleaded. “I—I wasn’t thinking straight. I was freaking out. And then once everything was done, I was stuck. If I stopped the spell, you would have…I…I know it was a bad thing, an awful thing to do—”

“But you did it anyway.” Jack shook his head. “Look, if you think someone leaving you once this—this made-up positive feeling, whatever it is, faded away…if you think that’s worse than keeping them there against their will, your priorities are seriously fucked up.”

Chase choked, covering his mouth with one hand. His eyes were watering. This was exactly what he wanted to avoid, exactly what he was afraid of happening. Jack hated him. He…he really did. There wasn’t anything real left. But…he couldn’t lose him. He couldn’t let go. “Jack, please…”

Jack stared at him. His features seemed to soften, just a bit. “Chase. You did a bad thing. A horrible, messed-up thing. I can’t…I can’t just…forget that. But I can…I recognize that you need help. So go fucking get it. Stop dragging me down with you while you’re sinking and expecting me to make you float. Go grab your own life saver, don’t make me into one.” He turned around again. “Now go away.”

Chase was at a loss for words. So he simply unlocked the door and backed out into the hallway, re-locking it once he was outside. He leaned his forehead against the door with a dull thunk. No matter what he did, it never worked out, did it? Every time he tried to hold on to something he loved, it always slipped away. And that was his fault. He held on too tightly. Because that was just the sort of stupid, terrible, horrible excuse for a person he was.

He glanced down the hall toward the other door. If he was going to get yelled at some more, he needed something to numb the sting of the words. And so he started back up the stairs.

But he only got up a couple steps before the lights shut off.

“What the…?” He couldn’t see anything, not even when he waved his hand in front of his face. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone, but it wouldn’t turn on. For a moment, he was resigned to blindly feeling his way up the stairs, until he remembered. He dug around even deeper in his pocket and pulled out a lighter, which burst into flickering flame. It wasn’t a lot, but it was enough. He sighed in relief, glad that Jackie had forgotten to ask for it back yesterday. But he was still upset that he had to go around the back of the house to reset the circuit breaker.

Something was deeply wrong.

As he climbed the stairs, things began to brighten, but not in the way they should have. The light that was gradually filtering down the staircase was red. Maybe that whiskey he had was getting to him? But alcohol didn’t cause hallucinations. There was also a low whine beneath his hearing, one that sounded not quite electronic, not quite electric, and not quite anything else.

He reached the top of the stairs. The red light was pouring through the doorway at the top, except for the spot where it was blocked by the dark shape of a man facing him. Shadows were wavering and leaping impossibly, and the world was bending around them. The man’s head tilted, outlines and shadows following it into position. And with a hiss of black noise, the man’s right eye lit up with a piercing green light.

Chase stepped backwards, going down a stair. He could feel his heart pounding through his pulse, rising rapidly. His breathing was going by too quickly, and his body was shaking so much that the flame in the lighter was practically going out. He was…scared. He was _terrified._ But he why? He knew who this was, what this was…didn’t he?

“W̢̧͡he͞͝re̡ ̶͏҉ar̵͠e͝ ͝t̷͡h̸͝e̕y̷?”

Chase just shook his head.

A laugh rang out, echoing and circling around him in a hellish cacophony. He pressed one hand to one ear, still holding the lighter in the other. “I̧ ͞d̶on̢’t e̸ven k҉n͞ow̸ ̵w͟h̶y I ask̷,” Anti hissed. “I͠ alręad҉y ̶kn̶ǫw̡, An͟d ҉y͏ou͞'̨re in͢ m̸y̛ ̶wa͝y̵.”

“You…no. No, you can’t,” Chase said quietly, realizing what he was planning.

“C͡an̡'t͟ ̧I͢?̧” Reality was bleeding at the edges. Anti stepped forward, and it wasn’t clear where he was or how fast he was going, until sooner than Chase thought possible, Anti was in front of him. Chase tried to back away, but found himself teetering on the edge of a stair, and he worked quickly to regain his balance. “L͡e̴t̡ ͡m͞e ̸a̢sk̛ yo͝u…” The words bounced around his skull. “D͝o ̡y̶ou t͠h̸ink̕ y͏o̡u h̸av͢e͠ a righ͞t to thi͞s̛? T͞o̕ th͢e̛m͞?̷” A pair of hands grabbed his shirt, pulling him close. “Y̛ou ̵to͡o̶k m҉y̵ on͞ly ̧fr̨ie͡n̶d ͡from̕ ̷m͢e ̴beca͟u͟se̵ yoư ͠we̸re ̶scared̡ I'ḑ s͟how h̷i͡m ͟wha̶t͠ ͏y̸o̕ư rea͡l͝ly ̡a҉re͟!”

“N-no…” Chase clawed at the hands holding him, trying to pry the fingers away, but he was met with a sharp, slicing pain instead. He gasped, dropping the lighter, which tumbled down the stairs into the darkness, leaving only the red light. “No, that’s not…I just want…I just want things to go back to the way they were.”

“So҉ do͡ p͝l̕ȩn̵ţy ͏of p̢eo͝ple̸.͏” The green light of the eye flared again, and Chase cried out, the sight somehow making his fear spike. “B̧ut ͝t̶h̨ey̵ m҉an͡ąge to͏ ̶not͏ fo̵rce̸ th͠o̢se͠ ̢a͏ro̷u͡ņd͟ th͞em҉ t͟o s̡t̷ay͡.”

“Stop,” Chase whispered. “Please stop. I-I know, I know. I know I’m horrible, but I don’t know how to fix it.”

“Th͠e͟n͞ ҉fi͠nd ͠s̶omeo͝ne who͞ ͝d̷o͡es!” Chase flinched as the words cut through his heart. “Aņd ̷ins̶t͠e͞a̶d ͢o͢f just̕ ͡wall̕ow͠ing̶ ͢i̡n ̡ho͢w͢ t̛e̵rrible ̴yo͟u͢ are and͢ ̶us̡ing ̴it as̸ a̧n e̷xcu̵se,͞ ͢fuck̵in̨g d͟o ̕s̴ometh͠i̕ng͞ ̶a҉bou̢t it!”

“I-I-I can’t.” Chase shuddered. “I can’t, I can’t!”

The electric whining increased, the myriad of tones stabbing into Chase’s mind. Warm liquid was running from his eyes, and he didn’t think it was tears.

And then it stopped. Anti let go of his shirt, and Chase stumbled back, once again almost falling down the staircase. He gasped for air that was suddenly lacking, and looked up into the shadowed double-face.

“Y̶ơu ̸h̨̢a̛v̶e̛͟n͢'͏̸t ͝͏͏e̛v̵e̷n̢ ̸͢t̷r̢ie̵d͡.”

And Anti was holding him, a hand on either side of his head, and Chase was staring into that green light that made the rest of the world dark. He gasped, and he opened his mouth to scream, but the sound died before it came out. The staticky whine from before was back, and it was inside him. He could feel it pounding through his veins, flowing through his nerves.

Suddenly he was so…tired.

Chase closed his eyes, and it was dark. Soon the silence followed.

The harsh red light faded, becoming just a bit gentler. Anti set the limp Chase down on the steps, not really caring much about making him comfortable. And he took a moment to just…stare at him.

Maybe Chase had a chance. Maybe somehow, he could figure out whatever was going on with him. Maybe he could manage to find his way back to whatever he’d left behind long ago. But that all depended on his willingness to take that first step.

Well, he’d have some time to consider it. “Sle̢e͏p ͡w̛el͏l,̕ C͟h̡a̶se,” Anti whispered, no trace of any tone in his voice. Then he turned his attention down the stairs. 

* * *

The next time the door opened, Jack was ready. There wasn’t much in the room he could use, probably by design. In fact, there was really only the three beds with their pillows and sheets. But at this point, he’d use whatever he had. He wasn’t sure how long it would be before they managed to fix the magic hypnotizing watch, or whatever it was, that allowed the spell to be cast. He goth the feeling it was soon, though, so he had to at least make an attempt. Even if that attempt was kind of pathetic. Which is all a really long way of saying the minute the door opened and someone walked inside the room, Jack threw a pillow at him and tried to rush past while he was distracted.

He was actually surprised when he managed to actually push the door open immediately, so much so that he ended up barreling across the hall and smacking straight into the opposite wall. It didn’t hurt, except for the shock of actually being outside the room he’d been stuck in for…at least a couple days.

“Really? That was your plan?” said a voice. “You do realize that wouldn’t have worked on anyone who really wanted to keep you in there?” It was…familiar.

Jack spun around. Standing in the doorway of the room was a man who looked just like him. He wore a black shirt and dark blue ripped jeans, and there was a green scarf wrapped around his neck. His left eye was blue, while his right was…nothing. Just black, too black to be simply an empty socket. Staring at it sent shivers of fear down his spine. Jack recognized him immediately. “Anti,” he breathed.

“In the flesh. M͝o̴stly.” Anti cracked his head to the side and a flurry of pixels broke away. “Hello…hi, Jack.”

Jack gaped at him for a moment. A long enough moment for Anti’s fingers to begin twitching and his eye to dart side to side. And then, with no warning at all, Jack ran forward and threw his arms around Anti. “Oh my god, you’re here! You’re really here!” He quickly broke away. Anti wasn’t too big on contact with humans. Then, his eyes narrowed as a thought occurred to him. “Unless you’re not really here. Unless…this is another trick.”

Anti chuckled. “Good. You’ve caught on to their tricks.”

“Where was the first place we met?” Jack asked. “No, wait, never mind, he saw that one. Umm…no, he knows about Sam too. How about…that dream. The last one I had, where did it take place?”

“Hospital,” Anti answered promptly. “Run-down, shitty sort of hospital. In the waiting room. Probably inspired by a video game you were playing at the time, because that’s usually what’s on your mind.”

Jack relaxed, shoulders slumping. He was pretty sure there was no way anyone could have found out about that particular dream. “Oh thank fucking god,” he sighed. “What…what are you doing here?”

“I’ve come to get you out, genius.”

“R…really?” Jack didn’t dare to let his hopes rise. “But…they’re all—”

“The two magic men are out trying to fix the talisman, wannabe Batman is out on the streets, and your local horror movie doctor is at his, ah, clinic,” Anti summarized. “Brody was still here, but I got around him pretty easily.”

“So…we can just…leave?” A tightness in Jack’s chest was loosening for the first time in years.

“Well…not yet.” Anti looked down the hall. “Come on, there’s someone else we need to get.”

Curious, Jack followed Anti down to another door. He watched as Anti twisted the handle and pulled it open, seemingly disregarding the fact that the door was locked. When it was open all the way, Jack stepped forward to peer into the room.

It was identical to the one he’d been trapped in, with a lamp hanging from the ceiling and three beds with sparse bedding. On the leftmost bed, there was a woman sitting cross-legged, leaning against the headboard with her eyes closed. Her curly blonde hair was a bit longer than the shoulder-length cut it usually was, but she looked alright otherwise. Her eyes flew open when she heard the door creak. “Anti?” she gasped, astonished. Then she looked over at the other man and said in complete and utter shock, “Jack?!”

“Wh—Stacy?!” Jack asked, eyes wide.

“You two know each other?” Anti asked, looking back and forth between them. 

“Of course I know him, he’s Chase’s best friend!” Stacy said, standing up. “We went to the same university too.”

“Jesus, I haven’t seen you since the divorce,” Jack said. “Did you cut your hair?”

“Yeah. But what are you doing here?”

“The same thing you’re doing, I expect.”

“Jack is my friend,” Anti butt in. “It’s a long story, but he’s been here for a while, and I’ve been trying to get him back.”

“…oh god. Oh, I see,” Stacy whispered. “I’m so sorry, Jack.”

“Well. It’s okay.” Jack shoved his hands in his hoodie pocket. “Actually, it’s not, but thanks. Now can we get out of here?”

“Yes, please?” Stacy asked, a note of panic tinged in her voice. “I need to see if the kids are alright.”

“Probably a good idea,” Anti muttered. “C’mon. I can get you both there quickly.”

Stacy blinked. “I, um, I thought you said you couldn’t glitch living things?”

“Oh, this isn’t glitching,” Anti smiled, a brief note of green coming to life in his blank black eye. “It’s a…shortcut. Though I do suggest you both close your eyes while walking through there, you probably wouldn’t like what you’d see.”

Stacy gave Jack a look that was part-curious, mostly-panic. Jack just shrugged. “I don’t get it any more than you do. Anti’s weird. He does his own thing. But we should probably listen to him. Now, please tell me you’re ready to go.”

After a moment’s hesitation, Stacy nodded.

* * *

It only took about a minute to walk through Anti’s “shortcut,” and neither Jack nor Stacy looked while walking through it. They weren’t sure what it was, but it had a sort of…tingly, electric feeling that didn’t seem entirely good. When they opened their eyes, the three of them were standing on the sidewalk outside Stacy’s house. She immediately rushed to the door, threw it open, and ran inside. Anti and Jack followed at a slower pace.

“Wait.” Before Anti went inside the house, he reached to the side and his hand disappeared, like he’d put it in a pocket of the world. When he withdrew it, he was holding a familiar white eye-patch, which he tied into place. And Jack was suddenly aware of an absence of a low-level humming, and that the hairs on the back of his neck had been raised and on edge this entire time.

“I was wondering where you’d put that,” Jack muttered. “Didn’t want to scare the kids?”

“Yeah.”

“Cool.” Jack pushed open the slightly ajar front door and stepped inside. Instantly, a glowing green ball was flying at his face. “Sam? Sam!” Jack laughed as the tennis ball sized eye vigorously nuzzled his neck and face, iris squished to almost closed. “I missed you too, buddy! What’re you doing here? Well, that’s good, then, kids need supervision.”

Anti watched the reunion, the corner of his mouth twitching. From the kitchen, he could hear joyous children’s shrieks, matched by the sound of Stacy’s voice. He pulled at his scarf, gently touching the bandages underneath. The reminder of what was underneath there, of the promise he’d made to himself, caused the almost-smile to fall. “Jack,” he said quietly. “We can’t stay.”

Jack, who was now patting the eyeball sitting on his shoulder, looked over at him. “What d’you mean?”

Anti looked him in the eyes. “They’re going to come for you, Jack. They don’t like losing, and they don’t like losing their stuff.”

Jack’s face fell. Sam flicked their nerve-tail, curling it around them. “You’re…right,” he whispered, looking down at the floor. “You’re right. We can’t stay here, they can find us. But…I don’t know, where else are we supposed to go?”

“Hmm…” Anti pursed his lips. “I’m guessing you don’t exactly have friends you could stay with. I doubt they’d let you.”

Jack looked up. “Actually…I had a few online friends.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Most of them live in the US. We could stay with one of them. I’ll say I’ve decided to come visit, and you can be my brother or something.”

Anti blinked. “What city? We need a city.”

“Umm…” Jack looked up at the ceiling while he thought. “How about Los Angeles? Big city, lots of YouTube people live there.”

“Okay. Done,” Anti said.

“Done?”

“I just bought you a plane ticket.”

“Uh…with what money?” Jack’s voice turned stern. “I think we’ve had this talk before and I don’t want to have it again.”

“Relax. I took the money from their accounts, transferred it to a different one, then bought the ticket using that account so they won’t be able to track it.” Anti rolled his eye. “Honestly, I’m not an amateur. It leaves tomorrow.”

“What leaves tomorrow?” Stacy reentered the living room, the two kids clinging to her legs. They looked mostly healthy. Albeit the daughter had chocolate smeared over her face, but they weren’t too worse for wear.

Jack sighed. “Stacy…I can’t…Anti and Sam and I can’t…they’re going to come after us. We need to get somewhere safe, somewhere out of this city. We bought a plane ticket for a flight that leaves tomorrow.”

“You’re leaving?” Stacy repeated. She looked down at the tiny giggling people running around her. “Does that mean…that we have to—”

“You guys should be fine,” Anti hurried to say. “At least for a little bit. Brody was the only one really interested in you, and I…convinced him to drop it for some time.”

Stacy raised her eyebrow at the word ‘convinced,’ but dropped the subject. “I…I don’t think a move would be good for the kids right now,” she said slowly. “If you don’t mind, could you…could you possibly let me know…?”

“When the situation gets dangerous again?” Anti finished. “Sure.” He then noticed Jack giving him a surprised look. “What?”

“Well, that wasn’t like you,” Jack said.

“People change, Jack. Even I change.”

“Just a tiny bit,” Jack laughed.

“Well, thank you,” Stacy said. “Um…you said the flight leaves tomorrow? Would you…like to stay here for the night? We have some extra blankets and pillows, and we could make the sofa into a bed with those.”

“That would be…nice,” Jack said slowly. Then he smiled. “Yeah, that would be really nice. Thanks, Stacy.”

“It’s no trouble,” she assured him. “Now if you excuse me, I need to put these two to bed.”

“Aw, but Moooom!” her son whined. “It’s not bedtime yet!”

“But you two look absolutely exhausted,” Stacy said in a gentler yet firm voice. “And you told me you’ve been staying up late, so I think it makes up for it. Besides, you have school tomorrow. So come on! To the bathroom! Neither of you have brushed you teeth, so you have to do that tonight.”

Only a few hours later, and the house had fallen silent. The kids were asleep in their shared room, Stacy was asleep in hers, Jack was sleeping on the sofa, and even Sam was resting, curled up next to Jack’s head on his pillow. The only one not resting was the only one who didn’t need it.

Anti was sitting on the arm of the couch, right by Jack’s feet. He wasn’t moving at all, a rarity for him, but he wanted to be fully present and solid for at least the first night back. Even if he was starting to feel the strain of holding a physical form.

He was looking at nothing. Or rather, he was looking in the direction of where something was. Imagining he could see across the city to that house. The cut on his neck was vibrating, ready to be glitched back into place. But he couldn’t heal it yet. He’d gotten Jack back, but they were still out there. Sowing the chaos and fear through the city. One of them was taken out, but he’d always thought of Chase as the least harmful one. The four left were a bit more…dangerous.

They had to pay. Some way or another, they all had to pay for what they’ve done. Not just to Jack, but to countless others as well.

And so Anti watched. And planned. And waited for the perfect moment.


	17. Reparations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack arrives in Los Angeles with Anti, ready to move on and put everything of the last two years behind him. But the group of five aren't as willing to move on. Or at least...not all of them are.

The Los Angeles airport was always busy. People bustling about and dragging suitcases behind them, or sitting at those tiny airport stores and restaurants. It was pretty late at night, and tiny kids were falling asleep in the departure area.

A flight had just arrived, and people were pouring out of the nearest terminal and into the airport proper. A man with green hair and a black hoodie, dragging a single suitcase behind him, quickly untangled himself from the crowd of passengers at the baggage claim and leaned against the nearest wall. He pulled a phone out of his pocket. His eyebrows raised at the time difference. Lost eight hours, that couldn’t be good for his sleep schedule. He unlocked the phone and opened his web browser.

“What are you doing?”

Jack jumped, looking to his left and seeing there was someone there who wasn’t there just a second ago. This man looked just like him, but with brown hair, and wearing an eye-patch and green scarf. He was leaning over Jack’s shoulder, looking at his phone screen.

“Don’t _do_ that,” Jack sighed. “At least not without warning.”

“Okay. What are you doing?”

Jack turned his attention back to the phone. “I’m looking for the nearest place I can buy recording equipment,” he explained. “I missed the uploads for the last two days, everyone must be freaking out.”

Anti raised an eyebrow. “Jack.”

“What?”

“Don’t.”

“What? I can’t just _not_ upload.” Jack started typing into the search bar. “There’s got to be a place nearby that sells the same sort of equipment, it’s Los Angeles.”

“Jack. I really don’t think you should.”

“Why not? It’s not like I can upload anything I have prerecorded, those are all back at that house.” He paused. “Come to think of it, I should probably make some sort of announcement that explains what happened.”

“Jack.”

“Look, if you’re worried about…about them, then I’m sure they won’t find me through a few videos. Provided I don’t vlog or anything. Besides, I don’t think anyone could beat your sweet hacking skills.”

“Good point, but that’s not—” Anti sighed. Jack wasn’t paying attention, just staring at the phone screen. He’d have to try something else. The browser on the tiny phone screen froze, then closed all on its own. The display glitched for a moment, and suddenly the front-facing camera was open.

“Anti, what are—” Jack stopped. He hadn’t seen himself in a while. At least, not without a mental film of “everything is fine” distorting his perception. He looked…he looked awful. His thin face was so pale, and the circles under his eyes were so dark, that he resembled a ghost. “Oh…” he said quietly.

“Yeah, you look like shit,” Anti commented. “And I’m sure you _feel_ that way, too. You’ve been stressed out for almost two years straight, that wrecks your system. So just. Don’t.”

“I…” Jack didn’t want to disappoint the viewers. He didn’t want to let anyone down, make them angry. But…he was tired. It hadn’t really hit him until now that he was so very, very tired. He couldn’t keep this up anymore. “I don’t want to stop forever. I guess I can…explain that I need to take a break.”

“Alright. Do that.” Anti turned to face the airport at large. “So, where to next?”

“A friend offered to pick me up,” Jack explained, pushing away from the way and starting to head outside. Anti kept pace with him. “You’re in my phone, aren’t you? Didn’t you see him text me the moment we landed?”

“Wasn’t paying attention to that,” Anti shrugged. “How’s Sam?”

Jack reached inside his hoodie pocket. The little eye was a bit bigger than a tennis ball, which meant they were barely small enough to fit inside the overlarge pocket without raising suspicion. And they were growing every day, pretty soon they’d have to find other places to hide. But for now, they were able to hide inside a pocket and snuggle up to Jack’s hand when he checked on them. “They’re resting,” Jack said with a slight smile.

Outside, cars and shuttles were lined up, ready to pick up passengers and deliver them to their next location. Jack scanned the length. His friend had texted him with a description of the car to look for. Or, actually, the van. Jack had half-thought it was a joke at the time, but once he looked along the line, there was no mistaking it.

“Hey Jack! Jack Spedicey! I’m over here!”

Jack grinned and sped up, walking along the sidewalk with Anti trailing behind him. “Hey, you made it! Honestly, I’m not reassured by the white van, I’m not sure if you’re giving me a ride or kidnapping me.”

“Uhhh, yes.” Jack’s friend laughed. “Hey, c’mere.” Once Jack was close enough, he pulled him into a short hug. Jack stiffened, just barely noticeably. Anti watched the interaction closely. He was simultaneously going through the friend’s phone, looking for anything suspicious.

Jack glanced over at Anti. “Oh hey, lemme introduce you guys. Anti, this is Mark, he’s the friend I was telling you about. Mark, this is Anti, he’s my—my brother.”

“Oh hi, nice to meet you.” Mark held out his hand for a shake. Anti didn’t oblige, just staring at him.

“Uh…he doesn’t do contact,” Jack explained.

“Oh, okay, that’s cool.” Mark dropped his hand. “Anti, huh? Where’d that name come from?”

“I don’t know,” Anti said. “It just did.”

Mark laughed. “Well, alright. Hey, I mean, it’s better than the origin of mine. I was named after this actor my dad liked.”

“Well, that’s kinda cool,” Jack said.

“It would be if he hadn’t been an absolute dick.” The sentence dissolved into giggles at the end. Jack smiled too. “Anyway, we’re wasting time. Do you know which hotel you’re staying at?”

“I’ll plug it into your GPS,” Jack offered. He and Anti had debated about the safety of staying in a hotel versus staying with a friend, and eventually the hotel won out, and Anti reserved a reservation online.

“Okay. Have any more luggage?” Mark gave a glance to Jack’s single suitcase.

“No.”

“You said you were staying for a while, though?”

“Y-yeah…” Jack looked fairly uncomfortable. Anti’s ability to glitch objects had been very helpful in getting Jack’s clothes and personal items out of that house, but they’d been in a hurry and couldn’t get too many.

Something flickered across Mark’s face for a second, but he covered it up with a smile quickly enough. “Well let’s get going, then. Don’t want to get there too late.” He slid open the door of the van. “Welcome to America, dude.”

* * *

Only an hour later, and Jack was checked into the hotel. The room was nice, fairly big with a sofa, a desk, a coffee table, and a pair of chairs. There was only one bed, but that was okay since Anti didn’t sleep. He was more interested in the TV that came with the room, immediately causing it to flicker between channels and run through with static.

Jack took Sam out of his pocket and set them on the desk, where they slowly wiggled their nerve-tail as they came out of their resting state. “Hey, buddy,” Jack said. He took off his hoodie, bunching it up in a pile on the desk. Sam immediately hopped onto it, burrowing into the folds. “How you doing?” Sam replied that they were doing okay. “You like the room?” Sam thought that it was a bit cold, but anything was better than the house. “You got me there.”

Anti hopped onto the sofa, sitting on the back of it instead of the cushions. He relaxed, and slowly his form dissolved a bit, glitching and twitching as he became translucent. “W̡el̸l?̧” he asked, the crackling layer of distortion returning to his voice. “Now what?”

Jack threw his suitcase onto the bed. “Guess now, I tell everyone that I’m gonna…go a while without making videos.” He took out his phone. “Guess a quick series of tweets is better than nothing.” He hesitated for a moment. “Though…I mean, I can make a video with this. Just a short thing that I can upload, that would be better for people. What do you think?”

“Do which one you like more,” Anti said offhandedly. “You don’t need to ask me.”

“But…what do you think I should do?”

“Jack, I don’t care. It’s your channel, your community, do what you think is best.” Anti’s eye narrowed. “Why are you even asking? This doesn’t even need me.”

Jack started. “I…don’t know.” Mostly habit. A habit he’d picked up in the last two years. He shivered. “I’m gonna make a phone vlog.”

“You do that. Then what?”

“Well…” Jack hesitated. “You heard the conversation I was having with Mark in the van?”

“The one where he suggests you come visit his house and you suggested tomorrow evening? Yeah.”

“You’re…okay with that?”

“Jack, for the love of gods, stop asking me for permission,” Anti said, exasperated. “I’m your friend, but you have your own life. And unless you do something stupid that endangers said life, do what you want with it.” He paused, and his voice grew softer. “You don’t need to constantly ask people if you’re allowed to do things.”

Jack’s eyes went out of focus as he stared at nothing. “Yeah…you’re right.” He straightened, and repeated the words a bit more firmly. “You’re right. I shouldn’t be doing this. I’m going to film a phone vlog, and then I’m gonna go to sleep, and then I’m going to wake up and eventually go over to visit Mark.”

“There you go!” Anti cracked a smile. “Meanwhile, I’m going to do some…reconnaissance. Make sure the area is safe. Talk to you later.” And he faded away into a shadow of static, leaving an outline sitting on the sofa.

Jack stared at it for a second. Guess he was checking out the local news. Hopefully he wasn’t doing too much online stalking, or he’d have to give him yet another lecture about invading privacy. Jack sighed, gave Sam another glance, and started the recording. “Hey guys. So, you probably noticed the sudden lack of videos. I saw everyone freaking out online, and I really appreciate your guys’ concern, but I’m alright. It’s just that…well, things came up. I don’t have time to explain everything, but basically…”

* * *

Halfway across the world, hours later, four people were gathered around a computer screen. They watched intently as the playing video wrapped up. “…So, yeah, I hope you guys won’t mind the time without videos, but I think it’ll really be good for me. I don’t know how long it’ll be, but hopefully not too long. So thank you for your patience, and thank you for your support, and I promise I’ll see you all soon.”

“Play it again, play it again,” Marvin demanded, leaning closer.

Jackie, the one holding the mouse, glared at him. “Why?”

“Well, maybe he let something slip about where he is. Or at least narrow down the location.”

“And why do we care about where Jack is?”

“Uh, because every second he’s away is a second we’re in danger?” Marvin drawled. “Because there’s literally nothing stopping him from going to the fucking police and turning us in? And I wouldn’t be surprised if he and the bitch somehow managed to track down the ABIM to tell them about Jameson and me. So, play it again.”

He had a point. Enough of a point to make Jackie consider it. But in the end, what he did instead was close the web page and say, “Nah.”

“You absolute fuckwad!” Marvin’s eyes flared purple, and suddenly Jackie was flown to the side, knocking over the room’s swivel chair and hitting the wall with a heavy _whack!_ “Gimme that mouse.” He grabbed said mouse, reopened YouTube, and searched up the video again.

Jackie shook himself out of the daze he’d been knocked into when his head hit the wall. “For fuck’s sake, you’re being unreasonable!”

“Me? Unreasonable?” Marvin placed a hand on his chest with an exaggerated fake gasp. “I thought you knew me better than that.” His expression dropped and he turned back around. “Now get the fuck out of here or I’ll throw you at the wall again. This time, I’ll toss you _through_ it.” 

{I’d prefer if you didn’t,} Jameson jumped in, running his fingers along the edge of his newly-repaired watch. {I can only call on the repair company for so many times before they start realizing we’re not paying them. It’ll take some effort to erase all those memories from all those people.}

“You can hire another company, you know. But alright. Not _through_ the wall.” Marvin’s eyes became locked on the screen as the video began playing once again.

Jackie felt a wave of rage crash through him. “Are you guys serious about this?! You’re really going after one guy who’s too nice to do anything against us?!” Not to mention they’d thoroughly scared him to the point where Jackie doubted he’d actually do anything.

Schneep looked over to him. “Jackie, my friend, do you mind if I speak to you in the hallway?”

Jackie growled out a “fine” and followed him out of the room. Once in the freedom of the hallway, he launched into a rant. “I can’t believe you’re agreeing with those two. Henrik, really, what on earth could you possibly get from this?! You weren’t even too into the hypnosis idea in the first place, at least not as much as them!”

“Calm down and let me explain.” Schneep’s voice was untroubled. “Jack is our friend, is he not? Clearly he is not feeling like himself. So we must get him back to feeling like himself, where he is not upset and instead his face is smiles. It would be better for everyone.”

“It wouldn’t be better for _Jack,”_ Jackie muttered darkly. “I think it’s better that this is all over with.”

“Nothing is over with, it is just beginning! Look.” Schneep grabbed Jackie’s hand. “I understand you are not feeling the best. I am not either. But if we only get everything back to normal, then I am sure this will all ease up.”

Jackie gave up. He wasn’t feeling too up to the task of explaining the reality of the situation to Schneep. Maybe another day. “I’m just…gonna go to my room,” he sighed. “I’ll talk to you later.” And so he pulled away and walked down hall, leaving Schneep staring after him as he opened his bedroom door and went inside, firmly shutting it behind him.

Once inside the privacy of his own room, Jackie hit the nearest wall with enough force to rattle the dresser. Why, why and how on earth did he get caught up in this? Why couldn’t he have _done_ something when Chase first proposed his scheme? It was just—Chase had been so desperate, to the point where you could almost sense it coming off him in waves. And he was Jackie’s friend. But you know what? Jack had been his friend too.

Jackie straightened. Well, he was about to do something that those supposedly smart people in the other room hadn’t thought to do yet. And hopefully, they wouldn’t think to do it soon. He pulled out his phone, opened the contacts list, and called.

* * *

Jack woke up to the sound of his phone ringing. He barely registered this fact when the ringing cut off abruptly. Not at all like how it usually stops, this time the ringing sounded almost glitched when it cut off. And that definitely woke him up. He rolled over and glared at the room’s digital clock on the nightstand. Almost seven o’clock.

The phone rang again, only to die in the middle of it again. Jack flung out an arm and grabbed it.

“D͡on'͠t͟ ans̶wer͏ t̢hat.”

Anti fizzled into being at the foot of the bed. Jack glared at his outline in the room darkened by heavy curtains. “Why?”

“I don’t think anything good can come from that call. I’m working on blocking it right now.”

“Anti, for the love of all things god, don’t fucking mess with my phone without me asking.” Jack glanced at the screen. “Who is—” He stopped cold once he read the notification. “Why…why is Jackie calling me?” he breathed.

“See?” Anti sighed. “Okay, we’ve established the problem. Let me block the number. Or do it yourself. Actually, why haven’t you blocked them all yet?”

Jack stared at the screen for a moment more. “Actually…can you let him call?”

“W̛ḩa̧t̷?! Why?!”

“Just. I need to do this. With one of them. And Jackie…well, he’s the nicest.”

“The people who burned to death in the fire he started would beg to differ,” Anti hissed. “Not to mention all the others. I don’t think a guy with a double-digit body count can be called ‘n̕ic̨e͞.’”

Jack flinched a bit at that last comment. He hadn’t known that…but his feelings didn’t change. “Look, he can’t track the call with you here. And I just…please?”

Anti didn’t say anything for a while. But then: “If he says anything threatening I am going to cut off that call.”

“Fair enough.” And the phone started ringing again. Jack accepted the call, pressing the phone to his ear but not saying anything.

“Jack? Jack, is that you?!” Jackie’s voice on the other end sounded almost frantic. “Please say it is.”

“It’s me,” Jack said plainly. “What do you want?”

“I—” Jackie seemed to be struggling for words now that he was actually talking. “I wanted to—to say…I mean, to tell you something. Jack, the others are coming for you.”

“I know. I left.”

“Y-yeah, we saw your video. They’re trying to find a way to locate you using that.”

“I was careful. And I don’t think you’re gonna be able to digitally track it.”

“Oh. You’re still with _him.”_ A note of hatred suddenly entered Jackie’s voice. “Why? He’s a dick.”

The call was briefly interrupted by white noise. Jack glanced over at Anti to see his visible eye was flashing green. “He’s my friend,” Jack said. “Like you used to be. Remember that? Before I found out you brainwashed me? And you know how now you’re trying to hunt me down?”

“I’m not trying to do that at all!” Jackie hurried to say. “I never wanted to do this. And I…I-I know that makes me just as bad, for not stopping it when I knew it was the wrong thing to do. But…but I couldn’t—it’s not even that I couldn’t it’s that I didn’t want—look, the point is, they’re all coming after you. Henrik’s convinced you’ve lost your mind and need to get back to ‘normal,’ Marvin thinks you’re going to turn us in to the police, and Jameson…he can be a little…protective of…you know, the people who—”

“I get it. So you called to tell me something I already fucking know?”

“I just—I want you to be on guard. And…okay. So.” Jackie’s voice grew bitter. “Maybe leave that glitchy bastard out of this.”

“You know he can hear you, right?” Jack mentioned casually, grinning. “I don’t get why you even hate him so much.”

“Uh, because he defends criminals and does bad stuff himself? Like how I checked our shared bank account and found it was missing some? Or like what he did to Chase?”

Jack froze, his heart stopping. “…what happened to Chase?”

“Oh, your ‘friend’ didn’t tell you?” Jackie laughed on the other end. “Oh yeah, ask him about it. See if he’ll answer.”

“Fine.” The interference in the call was increasing, breaking up Jackie’s voice, but Jack still understood. He hung up the call, reached over to turn on the lamp, and stared down at Anti, who was glitching wildly all of a sudden, pixels drifting away in droves. “What’s he talking about?”

“It’s not serious,” Anti said.

Jack sat up straight. “You know, it’s never a good sign when you say something’s ‘not serious.’ What did you do to Chase?”

“I thought you stopped liking him.”

“That doesn’t mean I _want_ him to get hurt! Anti, what did you do?!”

Anti looked away so Jack was on his blind side. “I just…put him to sleep.”

Jack frowned. Clearly, there was more to it than that. “And?”

“And…he hasn’t woken up yet.”

“You—did you put him in a coma?!”

“Yes, fine, I̡ ̕di̕d͠!͠” Anti’s head whipped back toward Jack. “Not a normal one, but technically, yes!”

“ _Why?!_ ” Jack flew to his feet. “Why would you ever think that would be an okay thing?! You can’t just _do_ that! You just ripped someone away from their life!”

“He’s going to wake up!”

“That doesn’t make it better!”

“Well, you know what?! H͞e’̧s the reason you spent two years in a mental fog! He’s̷ t̸h͞e ̢reas̕on ten people are dead! He’s the reason I was ͠a̧fr̸aid for̕ t̨he ̛fi̵rs͢t ̡t̸im̕e̴ ever͏!͞” Anti clapped a hand over his mouth, eye wide.

Jack stared at him. “You…told me you can’t feel fear. That you’re not afraid of anything.”

Anti slowly uncovered his mouth. “Not _of_ something, but… _for_ something. There’s a difference.”

The silence that followed was louder than the shouting from before. Jack simply couldn’t find words. He’d known for a long time that Anti was, technically, scary. But he’d always known there was something else to him. Not that the scariness was a facade, but that it was just a part of him. But knowing that he could himself become afraid…it revealed something he hadn’t ever thought about before. “You…you still shouldn’t have put someone in a coma,” he said, much more soft than before.

“I know. I actually do.” Anti folded his arms and looked down. “Chase is…not the worst. And I think there’s a chance he could be better. He just…needed some time to think. And Stacy needed some time to get everything together without worrying about him. So, I gave both of them that.”

“It’s still not a good thing to do.”

“Yes. But after everything he’s done…it won’t last long, I promise you that. Just a month or two. He needs some time with himself.”

Jack sighed. “I’m not going to forgive you for that. But. I am going to concede that there are worse things that could happen. You could’ve killed him, I guess.”

“I’m not th͞e͢͞m̸͠, Jack.”

“That’s right. You’re not.” Jack looked at the phone he’d set back on the night stand. “You’re a better friend.”

Anti didn’t seem to know how to respond to that. So he just skipped it altogether. “Next time I see that so-called hero, I’m going to stab him.”

Jack looked over at him. “No, no stabbing.” He paused. “At least not before I punch him in the face.” A low laugh. “But seriously, don’t.”

“Fine. What about the others?”

“No.”

“Sometimes you’re too nice.”

“Maybe. Oh!” Jack let out a sudden exhale as Sam peeked around the corner, looking back and forth between him and Anti. They wanted to know if the two of them were mad at each other. “I mean, only a little.” Sam decided to take that answer and zoomed over to perch on top of Jack’s head.

Anti smiled a little at the sight. “So, are you waking up?”

“No, I’m gonna…I’m gonna go back to bed. For a little while. Sleep is for the weak, but I am indeed very weak.”

“No, you’re not.”

Jack blinked in surprise. “Thanks.” He reached over and turned off the lamp. “Now stop staring at me while I sleep. It’s weird.”

“Fine. I’ll stare _around_ you.”

“Not helping!”

Anti laughed, and dissolved into particles. Jack somehow knew he’d gone. Not entirely, but he wasn’t keeping most of his presence here anymore. Jack sighed, and climbed back into the bed. Sam leaped off his head and onto the pillow, curling up next to him. And he fell asleep almost immediately, feeling safe for the first time in too long.


	18. The Mental Process

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Attempting to move on, Jack finds that he isn't as okay as he thought he was. Meanwhile, the others still continue to search for him, though Jackie is just as reluctant.

“You’re not allowed to come.”

“W͡h͏y ̡n͠ǫt?”

Jack sighed and looked up at Anti, who was standing near the hotel room’s window and twitching sporadically. He looked calm, but Jack could tell he was upset by the way the static in his voice crackled. “Because…” Jack mulled over his thoughts, trying to find the right words as he gathered his phone and the room key together. “This is…my thing, you know? My friend, my hanging out with him. I just…need some time that can be _my_ time.”

Anti relaxed, just barely. “Okay. That makes sense.”

“Besides, you didn’t really seem to like him that much anyway.” Jack laughed under his breath.

“It’s not that I didn’t like him. It’s that you need to be safe.” Anti looked out the window to the street below. “And you never know. Mark seems to be a decent guy, though.”

“He’s really nice. And he’s dedicated, and funny, and he’s really talented. God, I wish I could do some of the things he does on his channel.” Making friends wasn’t easy when you lived with a bunch of criminals intent on controlling your life. But Jack had made do.

“Yeah. He seems like it,” Anti repeated absentmindedly. “If anything goes wrong, if anything happens, you text me, okay? You know the number I’m using?”

“Mm-hmm.” Jack tucked his phone and the room key in his hoodie pocket. “But what could happen?”

“L.A. is a dangerous city. I was checking out the local news and events yesterday and today, and though it’s not n͞e͞arl͝y͢ as bad as Mirygale”—Anti was referring to the city Jack had lived in before, the one where the others were still based—“it still has problems. I swear, there’s a shop on the edge of the city that’s run by a pair of demons.”

“Demons exist?” Jack couldn’t hide the shock in his voice.

Anti rolled his eye. “Not the sort of demons you’re thinking about. It’s just a certain type of being, not religious in any way. Though they can steal your soul if you’re not careful. Those two seemed mostly passive if they’re even demons, but avoid it just in case.”

“Uh…okay then.” Jack didn’t know why he was surprised. His two best friends were a living glitch and a sentient eyeball, and he personally knew a magician and a telepath. Anything was a possibility. “Anyway, I’m leaving now. I’ll text you if I see demons or anything.”

“Great. I’m going to stay here with Sam and keep an…eye on things.” Anti chuckled.

Jack groaned. “Oh you did not.”

“I did.”

“Great, now I _have_ to leave. See you tonight, Anti, Sam.”

“Goodbye, Jack,” Anti called. Sam said goodbye too.

“Bye, guys.” Jack left, closing the hotel door behind him with a gentle click.

* * *

Mark opened the door soon after Jack knocked. “Oh hey, Jack!” He initially went in for a hug, but stopped when he saw Jack leaning back. “So, you found the place okay?”

“Yeah, uh, Google Maps was very helpful.” Jack switched off his phone and put it back in his pocket.

“Google is always helpful. Oh, come in.” Mark stood aside and let Jack come into his house.

Jack looked around. “Wow. Bigger than I expected. A bit more modern than hom—than the one I’ve been staying in for a while. Anyone else live with you?”

“Just Amy. She’s out now, though, so we have the whole house to ourselves. What d’you want to do?”

“Uhh…” Jack’s mind went blank at the question. It’s not that he wasn’t used to wanting things, it was that he wasn’t used to people asking. He had to take a moment to regain his footing. “Is it weird that my mind first went to playing video games?”

“Nah, man, not at all.” Mark shrugged. Then he looked excited. “Oh hey, we could record a video together while you’re in the—”

“ _No!_ ”

Mark jumped. “Oh jesus, dude.”

Jack bit his lip hard enough to make it bleed a bit. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you. Guess I really am loud, huh?” He laughed, the sound a bit wobbly and nervous. “If…if it’s okay, I don’t really…I’m not really up for videos. And I probably won’t be for a while. I’d rather just do something for fun. If it’s okay with you.”

“Well, you could’ve said that without blowing out my eardrums, my god.” Mark laughed, sounding a lot more carefree and confidently than Jack had. “It’s okay, dude. Burnout is real, and it’s kinda nice to do something for yourself. C’mon, we can hook up the PlayStation or something in the other room.”

Jack sighed under his breath as he followed Mark. Yes, burnout _was_ real, but Jack was more concerned with the fact that if he did a video with Mark, it wouldn’t take too much digging for people to find out where he was. They’d have a city right away. And then they could come, they could find him, he didn’t want to go back, he just wanted to be safe—

He noticed he was starting to breathe quickly, almost hyperventilating, and he took a moment to control it. This wasn’t the time. He was going to have a good, fun time here, and nobody was going to find him. He realized he’d suddenly stopped walking, and that Mark was looking at him peculiarly. “You alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine, just…felt a little dizzy for a moment. Is there an altitude difference here?”

“I dunno. Maybe. Did you get enough sleep last night? I sometimes get dizzy if I don’t sleep well.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” The response was automatic, and Jack hated it the moment it came out. “No, I mean, I slept pretty good. I woke up once for a phone call, but that was it, slept like a log for the rest of it. Actually, maybe I’m having jet lag and that’s making me tired. Yeah, that’s probably it. I’m good.”

“Uh…okay, if you’re sure.” Mark looked a bit off-balance after that rush of rambling words. “Just…tell me if something…I dunno, happens, okay? If I need to give you a ride to your hotel. Or I have a first aid kit in the bathroom.”

“I don’t need first aid,” Jack said, maybe a bit too quickly. “But…thanks. I just want to have fun and play games.”

“Well, I can help with that. And, uh, anything else you need. Now, let’s actually get the games out, why the fuck don’t we?”

Not a lot of co-op games were coming out with split-screen recently, so the two of them ended up mostly playing just a couple small games, then taking turns playing a single-player game. Even though they weren’t doing much, really, Jack was enjoying himself. Mark was just as giggly and random as he’d always been, and the minutes flew by with both of them laughing their faces off.

But even now, there were moments when everything became very cold and still. When Jack would think idly about how much this reminded him of the game nights they had back home—and then remember that the house had never really been a home at all. Home was a place of warmth and trust, of comforting memories and knowing you were always safe. And all those feeling had been a lie, back in that house. He tried to snap out of those moments quickly, to keep Mark from worrying, from asking questions that were well-meaning, but that Jack couldn’t answer right now, not when it was all so new in his mind.

After a while, they somehow ended up in the kitchen. Mark had vaguely mentioned a couple fun videos he’d done with some friends of his, and next thing they knew they were standing at the counter, which was covered in flour and batter, and the two of them were breathless from laughing. “This is ridiculous,” Mark wheezed. “This is stupid, we’re so stupid.”

“Yes, yes we are,” Jack agreed, wiping his floury hands on his jeans. He glanced toward the glass doors. “Oh, wow, it’s getting dark. Hey, what time is it?”

“I dunno, check your phone.” Mark was busy trying to brush the flour into a pile that could be easily swept up. “Or there’s a clock on that wall there.” He pointed.

Jack opted to look for the clock, not wanting to get more white powder on his black pants. He expected one with a digital readout, it would match the modern feel of the rest of the house. Which is why he was sort of surprised to see an analog clock, with the hands and everything. Was it just him, or was their something weird about said hands? The second hand wasn’t ticking along, it was moving steadily, continuously. A constant red line spinning and spinning and…spinning…and…spiraling…the movement was sort of…relaxing…he was starting to feel kinda sleepy…

“Jack, are you okay? Jack? Jack!”

A hand came out of nowhere, snapping fingers in front of his face. Jack was immediately jolted out of his relaxed state. He startled…and then he screamed.

“Jack!”

He stumbled backwards, running into the counter. His hands were covering his eyes, pressing down. “No. No no no no, please, don’t, I don’t want to, no no no, please, _please—_ ”

“Jack! Jack, it’s alright, it’s okay.” The voice was there. The voice was there, it wasn’t in his head. Someone’s hands were on his shoulders, steadying. “What’s wrong? What happened?”

Jack stopped trying to backpedal further, only to realize that he was shaking. Just a little bit. His breathing was shaky too, and he decided to start with that, in…out. Again and again. “…I’m fine,” he said quietly. “I’m good now.”

“Are you _sure_?” When Jack nodded, Mark asked, “Are you ready to open your eyes now?”

And with that, Jack realized he was still covering his eyes. “Just…give me a moment.” He had to calm his thoughts down. He was in Mark’s kitchen, on the other side of the world. None of them were here. It was okay to look, nothing would happen. He repeated this to himself a couple more times before he finally peered out from between his fingers.

“What happened, man?” Mark’s face was drawn with concern. “I’ve never…you’ve never freaked out like that before, at least not that I’ve seen.”

“It…I’m fine—I’m okay.” Because he was okay now. Not fine. ‘Fine’ was a bad word, it was a mask for when things were not okay but you hoped they would be. “I just—your clock reminded me of something.”

After a tense moment, Mark nodded. “Okay. Wait right here, I’m gonna go get something.”

Jack fully lowered his hands, watching as Mark walked around the counter and started raiding the random papers stacked on the table in the dining room joined to the kitchen. After a moment, Mark found what he was looking for, and returned. “I knew I left one in here,” he muttered. “Here.”

Mark was holding out a small rectangular piece of paper. Jack stared at it for a moment, then reached out and took it, snatching it away like he was scared he’d try to take it back again. It was plain white on one side, but on the other there was an address, typed on the card in a goofy pink font. “What is this?” he asked.

“It’s uhhh…” Mark ran his hand through his hair, looking for the right words. “Look, I can tell you’re going through something. Or maybe you _went_ through something, and you’re still trying to adjust to it. That’s the address for…a place that could maybe help you out. You don’t have to check it out, but just in case. I know the guys who run it, they’re very nice, a little weird, but pretty good people. And if there’s…I dunno, someone out there who…I-I dunno, but you can’t find the house without the address.”

Jack stared at him for a moment, then looked back at the card and reread the address. He wasn’t the best with directions, especially not in this new and strange city in this new and strange country, but he was 70% sure this was some ways out of Los Angeles. “Guess it…can’t hurt to keep it in mind,” he said slowly. He looked back up at Mark. “Thanks.”

“No problem.” Mark smiled. “You’re my friend, I’m here for you if you ever need to talk or anything.”

“Well…I could use a ride back to the hotel?” Jack said hesitantly, turning the statement into a question.

Mark laughed. “Of course, dude. It’s getting dark anyway. Things get weird in the city after dark.”

“Yeah, I heard it was dangerous?” Jack asked, following Mark out of the room.

“I guess kinda. But I mean _weird._ Like, _weird._ And I know, because I know some of the people causing the weird.”

“That’s stopped sounding like a real word now,” Jack said, smiling.

“ ‘Weird’? Yeah, isn’t it…weird?” Mark burst out into a fit of giggles at that. “That’s not funny, I don’t know why I’m laughing.”

“No, don’t worry about it, it just means you’re a happy person.”

“I prefer giggly bitch, but same thing.” Mark grabbed his car keys. “Same hotel I dropped you off at yesterday, right?”

“Yep.”

“Let’s go, then.”

* * *

Sam immediately attached themself to Jack the moment he walked in the door, bopping around his head before settling on top. “Hey buddy,” Jack laughed. “You’re excited.” Sam told him that they were just glad he got home safe and sound, and that it was good to see him. “Aw, good to see you too. I missed you.”

Anti materialized on the couch, laying down, distorting the air around him. “So, how was it?”

“It was…fun,” Jack said, sitting on the couch near Anti’s feet. “And…helpful.”

“Helpful?”

“Yeah, uh, Mark gave me this.” Jack took the card out of his hoodie, tossing it over to Anti, who caught it effortlessly. “I…started freaking out at one point, and he got that out, and he said it was a place that could help me. With that whole…freak-out thing.”

“Huh.” Anti squinted at the address, then tossed it back over to Jack, who fumbled before catching it. For a moment, he became a static shadow, the air tasting metallic. Then he was mostly solid once again. “They have a website.”

“Of course they do, everyone has a website.” Jack set the card on the nearby table while Sam slunk down from their perch on his head to settle against his neck, nerve-tail curling up.

“They’re called The House. Your friend Mark has done some charity streams to help raise money for them, in fact. They’re pretty vague about what exactly it is they do, but you can either go there for a visit, or stay there for an extended period of time if you, and I quote, ‘are trying to get away from something or someone.’” Anti scowled. “I tried to hack into the site for more info, but they have…a re̸a̷ll̷y good firewall.”

Jack fake-gasped. “Has the great Antisepticeye finally met his match?”

“Oh, shut up. You didn’t feel this, it was almost like it was alive.” The two of them sat in silence for a moment, Anti staring at the ceiling while Jack patted Sam. “Are you…going to go check it out?” Anti asked after a while.

Jack thought about it. “I…don’t know. Maybe. If…they ever catch up with us, it would be good to have a second place to go to. Or if something else bad happens.”

“You think they’ll find us?”

“No!” Jack took a deep breath. There was no need to be so snappish. “I mean…I hope not. But there’s a…possibility. And I want to ignore it, but I don’t think I should. I just—look at these guys. Jackie’s admitted to hacking into things before, Schneep’s smarter than he seems at first, Marvin has fucking _magic,_ and Jameson—” Jack swallowed nervously. “I don’t know, I don’t trust a guy with telepathy and a-a bleeding watch that hypno—that…you know.”

Anti had perked up near the end there, and was now sitting up. “Say that again? A blee̷d̕i̢n͟g̨ watch? What do you mean?”

“I didn’t tell you about that?” Jack shrugged, nearly dislodging Sam. “I mean, I was probably seeing things. I was scared and paralyzed, and the room was dark.” Anti stared at him intently, and Jack sighed. “Well, I told you about when I shot him, right? I thought…for a minute, it looked like the blood was coming from the watch. But it was probably just splashed on…it…” he trailed off. “Except I didn’t actually hit him. I _only_ hit the watch.”

Anti was buzzing with excitement, literally, pixels and white noise breaking away. “I need to check something for a minute. Be right back.” And he glitched away completely.

Jack stared at the spot where he had been for a moment, then looked down at Sam. “You wouldn’t happen to know what that was about, would you?”

Sam swished their tail. They told Jack that they had something of an idea, but they weren’t completely sure. Still, they felt uneasy.

“Yeah…me too.” Jack frowned, thinking. Then he shook his head. “Well, we can ask him about it when he gets back. Meanwhile, while he’s gone, the TV can work properly. Want to see what’s on?”

* * *

Jackie was upset.

It wasn’t too hard to tell. Jackie was the sort of person who was always very vocal about their feelings. Schneep had long ago noted the signs of an upset Jackie. But this was like everything had been ramped up. Practically every remark had a bitter bite behind it, a snapping always a pin drop away. He ran through the house without even bothering to look for others in his way, stomping up and down the stairs. Occasional fights with Marvin had escalated to a full-time battle, at best fought with fiery words and at worst fought with actual fire. 

No, on second thought, Jackie wasn’t upset. He was pissed.

Schneep was sitting in the living room, listening to the fight that was floating down the staircase. He couldn’t tell what had started it, hadn’t been paying attention at that point. But now, he was already massaging his temple where a headache was starting to blossom.

{Do you want to break that up, or shall I?}

It took Schneep a moment to realize that voice was one of the important ones. He twisted around, peering over into the kitchen where Jameson was busy making tea. “You sound like you would rather not,” he called.

{Well, truth be told, yes,} Jameson admitted. {Jackie’s not too fond of me right now, but he still likes you. And you get on with Marvin, too, so it seems to work out.}

Schneep groaned, resting his head against the couch cushions. “I do not even understand why he is so angry. And the good doctor does not like to not understand.”

{I doubt anybody does. Do you want some ginger tea? It’s supposed to help with headaches.}

“That would be nice, yes.” Schneep didn’t ask how Jameson knew his head was hurting. At this point, he expected Jameson to know a lot of things about him.

Jameson entered the living room, carefully balancing a tray with two teacups in one hand and holding a teapot in the other. He slowly set both on the coffee table and poured the tea before settling down on the other half of the couch. {I can try to explain to you why Jackie’s mad, if you would like.}

“I would like that very much.” Schneep took one of the cups and sipped. The headache didn’t immediately go away, but at least it tasted good.

Jameson glanced up the stairs, as if he could see Jackie and Marvin bickering at the top. {Well, you see, Jackie doesn’t want Jack to come back.}

“What? That does not make sense, they are friends, are they not?”

{Well, Jackie certainly likes Jack. He wants what’s best for him. And he thinks that Jack is happier by himself, so he doesn’t like that the rest of us are trying to get him to come back.} Jameson carefully sipped his tea. It was a bit strange, to hear a voice talk while the person was drinking, but by now everyone in the house was used to it.

“Ah. I see.” Schneep stared down at his cup. “ _Is_ Jack happier away?”

{Well, let’s look at the facts. He certainly…ah, freaked out on us just before he left.} Jameson unconsciously reached over to his vest, where the watch was tucked inside. {But he left in the company of the glitch, who we all know is not the best person to be alone with. So perhaps he is, but I think his perception is at least slightly clouded.}

“I see, I see. Maybe then we should focus more on getting Jack away from that creature, then, and then he can decide what to do next.” Schneep started. “Oh! Jameson, this cup was full! What happened?”

Jameson laughed silently. {You _drank_ it, doctor. While I was talking, remember?}

“I did? No, I do not think so. Did someone steal it? Someone must have.”

{No, nobody did. There’s nobody in this room but the two of us. Here, you can have more, though.} Jameson grabbed the pot and poured more tea into Schneep’s cup.

“Ah.” Schneep took another small drink. “Maybe it was Chase. He’s very fond of tea.”

Jameson winced, almost imperceptibly. {Henrik, don’t you remember what happened to Chase?} Before he could say anything more, there was a chiming sound. Jameson, startled, reached into one of his vest pockets and pulled out his phone, reading the text that appeared. His brows furrowed. {Doctor, I have to take care of something. You wouldn’t mind if I left now, would you?}

Schneep waved him away. “No, not at all. I understand business calls. Or texts, instead.” He laughed at his own joke, but that was cut off by a sudden crunching sound from upstairs. He sighed. “Meanwhile, I am going to settle that.”

{Capital. Thank you, doctor.} Jameson stood up, walked quickly toward the front door, and was soon gone.

Schneep stood up too, but instead walked over to the base of the stairs. “Jackie! I would want to talk to you!” He yelled.

“Can’t this wait?” Came the shouted reply.

“No, there is tea! It will get cold!”

After a second, the sound of footsteps came rushing downstairs and Jackie showed up, the shoulders of his hoodie dusted with white plaster. Upstairs there were more footsteps, then the sound of a bedroom door slamming closed. “Selfish little—” Jackie was muttering, “bastard bitch evil—fucking…hissy fit cat man only fucking…cares about himself.”

Schneep decided to tune this out. “Jackie, Jameson made tea, but he had to leave, so I thought you would like some!”

Jackie sighed. “You know what? Sure. Tea is calming. I can go for calming.”

“I know, I know!” Schneep smiled, pulling Jackie over to the couch. “You are being very stressed recently, you need to take a moment to breathe. Jameson explained the situation with Jack, and I can now see why you are so angry, my friend. But is not good to hold onto that forever, you need a happy place! Here, I can help you find it.”

Jackie smiled faintly as he watched Schneep pour more tea. “Yeah…that’d be nice.” He pulled the cup toward him and took a deep drink.

“Yes, yes, it would be.” Schneep looked around the room. “I think Chase was just here. He did not ask, if he asked I would have given him some, he did not need to snatch it up.”

Jackie’s smile fell. “Um…Schneep. Henrik. Chase is…” He hesitated. “Chase is…asleep right now. He couldn’t have just been here.”

“Of course he could have! You can be asleep and still talk and move.” Schneep was perfectly oblivious to the sad look Jackie was giving him. “I will have many things to say to him when I next see him.”

“…sure.” Jackie sighed again. “Sure. Anyway, you said Jameson explained the Jack situation to you?”

“Yes, yes, he did. You think Jack is happier away from us, and that is why you are fighting with the others, because they do not think so. But…” Schneep leaned closer to Jackie. “Here is what I think. I think that the creature is making a mess of him. It knows that maybe he wanted to leave, and it is making him stay with it! So I think we have to get Jack away from it, and then he can decide what to do next.”

“I…” Jackie seemed to forget whatever he was about to say next. Or maybe he was reconsidering it. He started playing with the end of his hair, looking at Schneep contemplatively. “So…when we get Jack away from the glitch…what if he decides to leave? How would you feel about that?”

Schneep frowned. “I think I would be sad to see him go, but Jack is a perfectly healthy adult, he is allowed to make his own decisions. Besides, we can always keep in contact.”

Jackie nodded, slowly at first, then increasing in speed. There was a glint in his eye. “Yeah. So, we’ll get him away from the glitch. And we’ll let him choose what to do afterwards. And when he decides to leave, we’ll let him. That sound like a plan to you?”

“Yes, it does!” Then Schneep gasped. “Jackie, I think your drink is getting cold! You need to get it inside you before that happens! It will help clear your head, I promise, I am a doctor.”

The corner of Jackie’s mouth twitched. “Tea has medical properties, then?”

“Of course it does! I would not lie to you, and I cannot, because I am the best doctor.”

“Alright, dude. Here, look.” Jackie drank the tea, setting the cup back down with a grin. “That good for you?”

Schneep nodded, taking a sip of his own.

And as the two of them sat together, the seeds of a plan began to take root in Jackie’s mind.


	19. Adjust Accordingly

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jackie, determinedly fed-up with Marvin and Jameson's attempts to find Jack, starts enacting his own plan. Meanwhile, Jack tries to go out on a small trip for fun. Unfortunately, it takes a sharp turn.

Jackie was already regretting this idea. It seemed like a good plan two days ago when he came up with it. But now, standing in the bedroom doorway and making uncomfortable eye contact with Jameson standing on the other side, he was having second thoughts. But he couldn’t back away now. “Sorry for, uh, interrupting you,” Jackie said, shifting on his feet. “I just…wanted to talk to you.”

{Well, there’s nothing wrong with that,} Jameson said. {Please, come inside.} He moved out of the doorway so Jackie could get past him.

Jackie tried his best to trample his nerves as he stepped inside. The house had four bedrooms, so some of the boys had to double up. Jameson shared with Schneep, and Jackie had previously shared with Jack, leaving Chase and Marvin with their own. Jackie had been inside Jameson and Schneep’s joint room before, but never alone with Jameson. And because of that, he was _super_ on edge right now. His eyes kept unintentionally darting back towards the door, expecting it to close at any minute.

“So…I’ve been thinking about the situation with Jack.” Jackie was very proud of how steady his voice was.

Jameson didn’t say anything, merely raising an eyebrow. Wait, did that mean he was listening in on what Jackie was thinking? What if he was slowly changing his mind on what he had to say? What if he already knew about the plan?

Jackie shook himself internally to get rid of the paranoia. “And I’ve…decided that…maybe it would be a good idea to get him back.”

Jameson folded his arms and leaned against the nearest wall. {Well, that’s a sudden change of mind. Any particular reason?}

“Uh…a couple.” Thank god he’d come up with reasons beforehand. “I’m, uh, kind of tired of fighting you two. I’m honestly half-expecting Marvin to murder me in my sleep one day.”

{Don’t be ridiculous, he wouldn’t kill you in your sleep,} Jameson said casually. {If he ever gets to the point where he wants to get rid of you, he’d want you to know exactly what was happening.}

“…right. Well, thanks for that.” Jackie swallowed the sudden lump in his throat. “Anyway, the other reason is that I’ve been thinking, and I really don’t want to get arrested. And Jack…Jack could tell the police any day. So…yeah…”

Silence for a while. Jackie continued to awkwardly shift on his feet while Jameson took out his phone and checked a text message. He started to type a reply, then said, {That never seemed to bother you before. Did something happen?}

Jackie felt a lurch in his stomach. “I don’t want to talk about it,” he said simply, folding his arms and looking away. Then quickly he added, “Suffice to say that I had a close call last night.” All of this was utter bullshit. But hopefully if he said it with enough confidence, then Jameson wouldn’t get suspicious, and therefore wouldn’t see a need to look inside his mind.

Apparently it worked, because Jameson shrugged and replied, {Very well, that’s your own business. It would be very helpful to have your aid. You’ve said before that you’re able to hack with some skill, do you think you could apply those abilities to our search?}

He tried not to wilt in relief. “I mean, maybe. But I don’t know how much I could do against the bitch. I’m sure I can get information…somehow.” 

Jameson smiled at him. {Well, either way, it’s always good to have more hands on deck. If you find anything, please come to me. I’ll not ask you to talk to Marvin.}

“Probably a good idea. Anyway, uh, thanks. That’s all I wanted to say.” Jackie turned around to leave and ran straight into Schneep.

“Ahk!” Schneep took a step back. “Jackie, you startled me. What are you doing inside my room?”

“I was talking to Jameson,” Jackie explained calmly. “Oh hey, by the way, are we still on for the coffee run later today? Or are you going to crash after an all-nighter again?”

Schneep chuckled. “I will be fine, I came home early last night. I wanted to take one of the naps, but you can wake me up when you are ready.”

“Alright. I’ll see you later, then.” Jackie sidled past and down the hall towards his own room, disappearing inside.

It seemed that so far the plan was going well. Assuming Jameson didn’t find out about it, he was sure he could carry it through.

Step one: convince Jameson and Marvin he agreed with their goal of getting Jack back. Step two: somehow convince Schneep that it would be better to let Jack go, thus bringing him over to his side. Step three: “help” the others get Jack, though maybe it would be a good idea to feed some misinformation. He was still considering that part. Step four: once they’ve managed to find Jack, get Schneep’s help to get him the hell away from these two, and maybe leave themselves as well. Actually, definitely leave themselves, and take Chase with him. Also try to find a way to wake him up.

It was a simple plan, or so Jackie thought. But it was made extra complicated with the addition of a telepath. He’d just have to make sure he wasn’t giving Jameson a reason to be suspicious, and hopefully that would be enough.

* * *

A week had passed, and Jack was finally starting to calm down a bit. He didn’t lower his guard, but he stopped expecting the others to pop up at any minute. According to Anti, they’d been running a few online searches, but he blocked every attempt. Jack was half-convinced that they wouldn’t even get close anyway, but Anti was messing with them out of some sort of spiteful vindication. Which, Jack had to admit, was sort of justified.

With the gradual relaxation, Jack had started exploring more or the American city. Though he took Mark’s advice and only explored during the daytime; he wasn’t currently keen on seeing how “weird” the city got. He started with the tourist spots and as the week progressed he grew more familiar with the layout and locations. He wasn’t up to the level of the locals, but he was confident. Confident enough to begin to wonder about what was more on the outskirts of the town.

He decided to bring up the subject one night in the hotel room. He was sitting on the bed, skimming through one of the brochures the front desk kept when he said, “Anti…how do you feel about going out a little ways out of town?”

The television flickered red, green, and blue, and suddenly Anti was sitting across from him, cross-legged. “I don’t know, how do _you_ feel?”

“I…want to go see,” Jack answered. “I think it would be fun. And probably helpful, if we ever needed to flee in the night like outlaws. But do you want to…come with me?” Anti had been coming with him on most of his explorations of the city, usually in a solid form, sometimes as bursts of static inside his phone. To make sure he was being safe. But occasionally he let Jack go out on his own—no, “let” wasn’t the right word. That implied that Anti had the final say, when it had always been Jack. Rather, he didn’t come with him on his explorations. And it was nice to be alone sometimes.

Anti shrugged. “Sure. Where were you thinking of going?”

“I…didn’t think that far,” Jack admitted. “I don’t know, maybe we could rent a car and go travel the roads.”

“Jack.” Anti raised an eyebrow. “You can’t drive.”

“Well, yeah, but I was kind of assuming you could.” Jack stared at him. “Can you?”

“Do I look like I know how to fucking drive?”

“I don’t know! You have like, the entire Internet at your fingertips, I bet there’s a ‘how to drive’ video on YouTube. There are ‘how to’ videos on YouTube for everything.”

“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean I’m automatically going to gain the experience needed to be a good driver. I’d probably crash the car in the parking lot.” Anti fuzzed out for a moment, glitching holographically. “There are a few bus routes that go beyond the city, we can take that.”

“Alright, that sounds like it could work.” Jack twisted where he was sitting and looked over to the room’s desk. “Hey Sam! Do you want to come?”

Sam peeked out from the nest they’d made from one of Jack’s hoodie. Their nerve-tail wagged as they said they really wanted to come, that sounded exciting!

Jack laughed. “Alright. Now let’s talk about these bus routes, find one that works.”

* * *

It was about ten o’clock the next morning when Jack embarked on his next adventure. It may have seen a small thing, taking a bus and following it wherever it would go, but Jack hadn’t been able to wander aimlessly for a long time, so even this small thing was something he enjoyed. He liked planning his own schedule for the route, he liked looking out the window at the new landscape, he liked listening to the prerecorded voice on the bus calling out the stops. As if he knew this, Anti was quiet for pretty much the whole of the trip, only sometimes taking a solid form and preferring to remain electricity in the air. Sam had to stay hidden in his pocket, of course, but they peeked out every so often and swished their nerve-tail.

The landscape outside the bus windows changed from tall, modern skyscrapers to smaller clusters of shorter buildings, and from there as the bus traveled down long roads to what must’ve been the suburbs of the city. Jack didn’t even know Los Angeles had suburbs, but apparently it did. He then made a transfer to an outbound bus from the city, and watched as the buildings faded into long stretches of flat, dry land. 

Jack got off the bus around two, and that was because he was starting to get hungry. The bus stop he chose to stop at was alone on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere, except for a gas station and a convenience store. Was this really how things worked in this country? Seemed a bit odd to have something like this just by itself. But there was an intersection nearby, so maybe this was somehow a transfer point for buses. Not that there were a lot of those. Or many cars, even. Aside from a few in the attached parking lot, the road was empty.

With a slight buzz, Anti materialized next to him. “When were you thinking of heading back? Or are we just moving on entirely? Could’ve let me checked out first.”

“No, we’re going back. Probably soon.” Jack checked the time on his phone, coordinating it with the bus routes he’d looked up. Or trying to, at least. “God, the wifi here sucks.”

“T͠el͏l ̸me̴ ab̷out it,” Anti muttered.

Jack waited for the bus schedule to load up. “Okay, uh, the bus back should come in a half an hour, if it’s on time. Meanwhile, I’m going to go buy snacks. I know you don’t eat, but do you want me to get you anything else?”

“I’ll pass.” Anti turned to look around the small patch of asphalt. “I’m going to try and find a stronger signal anywhere. Just in case something happens.”

“Well, good luck,” Jack shrugged. “I’ll meet you back here. Or you can meet me in the store.”

“Mm-hmm.” Anti made an OK sign with his fingers before fizzling away.

Jack reached inside his hoodie pocket to check on Sam. At some point, the long, flat landscape must’ve bored them. They were currently resting. Once he was sure they were secure, he took a deep breath, and walked inside the store.

Turns out the store was air-conditioned, like ever other building in America. Jack took a moment to adjust to the sudden temperature change and look around. Fluorescent lights, aisles lined with various packaged foods and other small items for road trips, and coolers in the back. There was one bored-looking employee standing behind a counter and checking his phone, and one customer browsing the rows who glanced over at Jack as he entered, then looked away.

Jack headed over to the nearest aisle, looking over the snacks for sale. He didn’t have too much American cash on him, and didn’t want to risk using a card of any sort, regardless of Anti supposedly protecting his whereabouts from being tracked. How much could he get?

“Hi.”

Jack jumped, and looked over to see the customer from before had entered his aisle. She was smiling at him. “Hi,” he said.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. I’m just kinda bored. See, I’m supposed to meet my friends here, but they’re late.” The woman tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and sighed.

“Oh, that sucks. I’m sorry.” Jack grabbed a bag of chips and continued down the aisle, looking to see if there was anything else. The woman followed him. He looked over at her. “You, uh, from around here?”

“Yes, we all are. We make this trip all the time, it’s practically our job now.” She laughed. “Anyway, _you’re_ not from around here, are you? I can tell by your accent. Are you Scottish?”

“Irish, actually. I get that a lot, though, so don’t worry.” She seemed friendly enough. But he was still a bit uneasy. She apparently didn’t recognize him, which was good, but you never know what might end up online.

“Oh cool! What brings you to the US?”

“I’m visiting a friend.” Jack picked up a pack of cookies and kept heading toward the back.

“Nice, we’re friend-meeting buddies. So, you’re going to visit this friend now? Or did they come with you?”

“Uh, no, he didn’t come with me. And I didn’t actually tell him I was…taking this trip.” Jack shrugged. “I mean, he knows I’m here, but I wanted to go on a bus ride, see the local sights, you know?”

“Got a bit carried away, if you’re all the way out here.” The woman laughed again.

“Yeah maybe, but it was nice.” By this point, Jack had picked up a soda to go with the cookies and chips. Not the healthiest treats, but what else were you going to find in a convenience store? “Well, I’m gonna…go buy this now.”

“Cool, cool. I should probably text my friends, see what’s keeping them. You have fun.”

“Thanks.”

As he was paying for the snacks, Jack couldn’t help but glance over at the woman a few times. She was…maybe a little too friendly, but she seemed harmless, fiddling with her phone. Hopefully she wouldn’t post this on Twitter or anything.

Outside, he took a seat on the bench by the bus stop, setting the snacks next to him. Anti still wasn’t back. Or maybe he was and was just staying in a more intangible form. The road was still empty. Jack checked the time. The bus should arrive in about twenty minutes. He sighed, looking down at the pavement.

“Excuse me.”

Jack looked up again to see a group of three approaching him. Two men and a woman. “Hi?”

“Hello!” The man in front smiled. “Sorry, I’m just wondering if you’ve seen my sister around? Long brown hair, brown eyes? She said she’d be wearing a purple top.”

“Oh…oh yeah, I saw her just inside the store.” Jack pointed. “She said she was waiting for friends, guess that’s you.”

“Great.” The man began digging around in his pocket. “Actually, I was wondering if you could do one more thing for me, that is, uh—” He pulled something out, and when he flipped it open Jack could feel his heart stop. “—if you’d just give me your wallet, that would be nice.”

Jack kept his eyes on the switchblade and slowly raised his hands, instinctively shrinking back and flattening against the back of the bench. “I—I don’t have a lot of American money,” he said slowly.

“Well, currency exchanges exist.” Jack didn’t like the way the man was still smiling. Or the way his two companions were edging around to the left and right. “And I’m sure you have credit cards or something you can hand over too.”

“You want my—I can’t give you my bank card!”

“No, I think you can.” The man walked closer. Jack leaned back further as the point of his blade drew near, as it pointed right at his throat. To the left and the right, the other two were pulling out items as well, but Jack was preoccupied with the imminent danger. “Because I have no problem just taking it from you and leaving a body for the cops to find.”

Given the choice between death or the possibility of the others finding him, Jack decided that death was the worse option. “Alright…fine…” he breathed. “I-I need to get it, it’s in my pocket.”

“Alright, stand up.” When Jack balked, the man gestured with the switchblade, the first hint of impatience. Jack slowly stood up from the bench, in the process getting even closer to the man and his knife. He started searching through his pocket one-handed. The blade point was inches from his throat. He was scared to move too much, scared to even breathe, in case that caused the blade to nick.

When he managed to pull out his wallet, the man snatched it away immediately, then backed off. Jack exhaled, but quickly tensed again as he realized there were still two others pointing deadly weapons at him. He glanced at them as the man in front flipped through his wallet. The woman to the left had another knife, a bigger one, and the man to the right had—he had a _gun_. Jack’s eyes locked onto the barrel. Somewhere in the distance, he was hearing a deafening bang, feeling the kickback and the terrible mental fog that had suddenly caused everything to shut down—

“What’s in it?!”

It was the voice of the woman from before. Jack didn’t look away from the gun, but he heard her footsteps approaching and saw her walk up to the man with the blade out of the corner of his eye.

“Well, not a lot of dollar bills, but we have a couple of cards. No driver’s license.”

Laughter. “Europeans don’t _drive._ Why do you think he took the bus?”

“Well, good point. Either way, still not a lot. What do you think? Should we take him?”

Jack’s head whipped around. “What?”

“I mean, might as well.” The woman shrugged. “Didn’t sound like anyone was expecting him back.”

“You—no, you can’t do that!” Jack nearly tripped over the bench in his haste to back away. The woman with the knife and the man with the gun closed in. His heart froze as his eyes flashed between the two of them.

“Well if that’s the case,” the man said idly, “you’re right, might as well.”

“No!” Jack darted toward a small gap in the group, only to be yanked backwards by the back of his hoodie. Still, he tried to pull away. But the man with the gun just wrapped one arm around his torso, pinning his arms to his sides, and pressing the gun barrel to the side of his head. Jack froze immediately. Tears were threatening to spill over, and he could barely get enough air from how quickly he was breathing. He couldn’t—he just got out of a situation like this, he couldn’t go back to one!

“Alright, back to the car!” The man said. “Bring him with us.”

Jack yanked his head away, doing his best to stomp on the man’s feet as he was dragged away. It was a few steps before he landed a hard enough hit to make the man yell and let go. Jack lunged forward, only to end up directly in front of the woman with the knife. He tried to push her out of the way, and the two of them struggled for a moment, until—

He thought he’d been punched at first. But then there was a sudden flare of pain as a spot on his stomach started to feel rather wet. It shocked him enough to stop fighting, just long enough for the man with the gun to grab him again.

“Oh my god, again?” The woman from before sighed. “This is the last time you use a knife, Catherine.”

“Sorry…” the woman with the knife mumbled.

“Whatever, it’s fine, we can fix it in the car,” the other sighed. “Let’s hurry, they might have fixed the security cam—”

She was cut off by a sudden electric screech. Like the sound of lightning striking a metal sheet and sheering it in two. The criminals froze, looking around. And that was all they had time to do. 

The first man was thrown to the ground, dropping his switchblade and Jack’s wallet. The air shivered brokenly and the light seemed to turn a bit red. The black-green shadow of a man burst into existence, lunging at the woman with the knife. She shrieked, throwing up her blade to defend herself, but then it wasn’t in her hand, it was in the shadow’s, and there was a thin line of red dripping across her face. Even before she had finished stumbling back the knife was in the air again, barely able to be seen as a silver fan cut through the air and landed in the wrist of the man with the gun. He once again yelled and let go of Jack, who slid to the ground quietly. The first woman had barely processed the scene when the shadow of pixels was in her face, grabbing her by the shirt and pulling her close as it growled. Or, not growled. The sound came out as a series of static-laced electric bursts that could’ve been a growl, or could’ve been low, threatening laughter. The shadow threw her on top of the first man, and followed her over. The shadow’s hand fell apart into distortion, and then it plunged the hand right through the woman and man’s chests. They screamed simultaneously.

The shadow withdrew, crouching by the fallen Jack. It stared at the group, then reached up to its face and seemed to remove something for just a moment. There was a flash of green, and all the criminals watching felt icy terror run through their veins. They scrambled to stand up and sprinted away. A few minutes later, a single white car screeched away from the parking lot, leaving the smell of burning rubber behind.

Anti settled into a solid form, smiling. Maybe he went overboard with that, but he was on high guard, maybe even a little paranoid. Had been ever since they arrived in this city. Well, enough of that. Anti turned his attention to the man lying on the pavement. “Jack? Jack, are you alright?”

Jack didn’t answer. He didn’t even look at Anti. He was shaking slightly, eyes closed, arms pulled close to him. There was a small movement in his pocket, and Sam emerged. They flicked their nerve-tail, showing Anti the small nick in it that was leaking glowing green fluid. They then used it to point at a spot on Jack’s hoodie that hadn’t been that dark before.

“Fu̸c̨k̡!” Anti reached to turn Jack over so he could see the problem better, but Jack curled up tighter, shaking his head. His chest was rising and falling rapidly, tears travelling down his face. Alright, fine, Anti had seen enough of what happened to know what was happening. He should never have left.

“Sam?” The little eye jolted to attention, flying crookedly up to Anti’s eye level. They were having trouble keeping balance with the small injury. “What do we do?”

Sam hesitated, then flicked their tail nerve-three times. The symbol for ‘I don’t know.’

“Alright, alright.” Anti reached over and grabbed one of Jack’s hands. Jack clung to it, but he didn’t seem to be getting any calmer. “He’s having a panic attack, and he’s been stabbed. We need to get help, but we’re in the middle of nowhere.” Anti bit his lip as he thought. “I can’t glitch living organisms, so we can’t get there instantaneously. I can maybe open a shortcut. But there’s still a problem there. That being the longer the distance the shortcut covers, the more difficult it is to open.” He sighed. “But I guess we don’t have a choice, huh? I can open a shortcut to the hospital.”

“N-n-no!” Jack opened his eyes wide. “No, no no, no hospitals. No d-doctors. Please. Please? Please?”

“Okay, no doctors,” Anti promised. “But we have to do something! I can’t fix this!” The stain on Jack’s hoodie was spreading fast. Dangerously fast. 

Sam perked up. They flew down, disappearing back inside Jack’s hoodie pocket for a second. They emerged holding a small card in their nerve-tail. They petered over to Anti and dropped the card in his lap. He hurriedly picked it up.

“This…this is the card that Jack’s friend gave him. Mark, right?” Anti read the address, coordinating it with the maps he’d found online of their location. “It _is_ closer…but do you really think they can help?”

Sam flicked their nerve-tail once, decisively.

Anti narrowed his eye at them. “This is one of your ‘feelings,’ isn’t it? The ones that are usually right about what we should do?” Sam flicked it again. “Alright, it’s a plan.”

He glitched to a standing position, reaching up and pulling off his eye-patch. He needed full power for a shortcut. Then he bent over and carefully picked up Jack. He wasn’t usually fond of touching humans, with the way their bones creaked and their blood flowed. He didn’t know how they could stand it. But Jack clearly couldn’t walk on his own. Anti could feel his trembling even through his hoodie. “Close your eyes, Jack,” he said, shifting Jack in his arms so his eyes were facing away from the outside, just in case he didn’t. Sam settled down on Anti’s shoulder.

And Anti took a deep breath, and stepped forward.

* * *

A few miles away, a little over a minute later, a man seemed to step out of nowhere and onto the front steps of a large house. Almost a manor. The man looked around, and suddenly there was a glitch in reality and the man was wearing an eye-patch. He looked down at the other man he was holding in his arms. His eyes were fluttering, and he seemed to be on the verge of unconsciousness. Though it was unclear if that was because of the blood loss on its own or if the panic attack had helped it along.

The House opened its front door, and the glitch on the steps tensed, static distortion running along his body. There was another man on the other side of the door. One with black hair, and electric blue eyes hidden behind glasses. He looked eerily similar to someone the glitch had seen before, someone who had identified himself as a friend. And he seemed totally unfazed by the strange sight before him.

The man inside said calmly, “Welcome to the House. We were notified of your arrival. How may I be of assistance?”

The glitch narrowed his eye. And silently, he gestured his head to the man in his arms.

The man’s electric blue eyes widened as he took in the situation, yet still his voice was calm. “That seems to be a problem. Please step inside.”

After a moment of hesitation, the glitch did so. And the House closed its door, waiting until it needed to be open once again.


	20. The House of Broken Things

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack finds himself staying in a strange house, full of people who are also strange, but seem friendly and willing to help. Still, he's not sure he belongs there.

Waking up was a slow process. Jack first became aware of the soft, heavy blanket and the pillows his head was sinking into. Then the quiet silence, accompanied by the creaking you’d find in an old house. And the minute he registered that, Jack realized he didn’t know where he was.

His eyes shot open and he bolted upright. The movement was accompanied by a piercing pain in his abdomen and a sudden rush of wooziness. He doubled over briefly, but then immediately started flailing as he tried to get out of the bed.

“Wḩoa͝, calm down, Jack.” A familiar hand reached out, making like it’s about to push him back down but instead stopping just before hitting his chest. “It’s okay. You’re fine.”

Jack stops, feeling his heart pounding. “Anti.” He looks over to see the glitch sitting in a chair next to the bed, his eye wide. Then he looks around the room. “Wh’re…where’re we?” It looked like a bedroom, but quite fancy. Sunlight filtered through wide windows with gauzy white curtains. Jack saw a clock—not an analog clock, but still rather old-fashioned—on the nightstand nearby reading 6:18pm. His hoodie was folded on top of the stand, with Sam resting on top of that, a pink bandaid wrapped around their nerve-tail.

“You know that address your friend Mark gave you? For the place called the House?” Anti shrugged. “Well. Here we are. It was the closest place that could offer help after you got stabbed.”

“…oh.” Jack fell back into the pillows as he remembered the incident at the bus station. “…how long’ve I been ‘sleep?”

“Four hours and six minutes,” Anti said immediately. “Blood loss combined with panic attack leads to bad things.”

Jack hummed and blinked slowly. Blood loss would explain the swimming feeling in his head. And why he was kinda chilly. “So…how—who fixed the—”

At that moment, a man opened the room to the door and poked his head through the gap. His eyes landed on Jack and he smiled, coming all the way into the room. “Oh, glad to see you’re awake. You’re Jack, right? Welcome to the House.”

Jack stared at the man for a moment. There was no way… “Mark?”

“My name is Edward, actually,” the man said. “But I know Mark, and I can see why you’d be confused. It’s nice to meet you.”

Upon looking closer, there were notable differences between him and Mark. Edward’s hair was shorter, and he was a bit thinner as well. His eyes seemed to be a darker shade of brown. “Yeah…nice t’meet you too,” Jack said. He tried to sit up further in the bed, only to lie back down as another head rush overcame him. He pressed a hand to his forehead. “You…you fixed the stab thing?”

“Yeah, I’m a doc—” Edward cut off when he saw the death glare Anti was giving him. “I mean, it’s what I do.” He rolled his eyes. “These guys get into all sorts of shit, I’m used to it.”

“Well…thanks.” Jack said.

“No problem. But I advise against making any sudden movements or standing up quickly. You still lost a lot of blood. I wanted to give you an IV with supplements but your, uh, friend advised against it. Also I had to stitch it shut, so try not to exert yourself too much or you might tear through the stitches, and that would _really_ hurt.”

Jack nodded. “Got it.” He was starting to relax a bit when he realized three things. One, Sam was out in plain view. Two, Anti was out in plain view, and he was also glitching, just slightly, enough to be noticeable. Three. Edward could one hundred percent see these things. He bolted upright. “I have an explanation for—aaah…” He started tilting sideways as the dizziness decided to assault him again. Anti pushed him back into position.

“I _just_ said—” Edward sighed and shook his head. “If you’re worried about your eye friend and the…effects this guy has, don’t be. I’ve seen stuff just as weird.”

Jack’s brows furrowed. “Really.” It came out more as a disbelieving statement than a question.

“Really,” Edward confirmed. “If you’re going to stay here—which obviously, you don’t have to, but I really fucking think you should until your stab wound heals—then you’ll see.”

“I’ve already seen,” Anti mumbled. He turned to Jack. “These guys knew we were coming even before _I̡͠_ knew we were coming. The…person who first talked to me when I arrived had a really w͟e̶i͏rd͠ electric signature, and acted fucking strange. And there’s a mirror in the entrance that’s freaking me out.”

Jack laughed. “You? Freaked out? Normally people are freaked out by you.”

“E͠x͝ąctly̸.” Anti scowled and looked away. “I break the rules. I don’t like it when other things do too.”

“You’ll get used to it,” Edward said. “And G’s really not that bad once you get to know him.”

“I’ll take your word for it,” Anti said. He looked back over to Jack. “I’m going to look around this place. Text me if you want anything.”

Jack’s eyes widened slightly. Anti was going to leave, while he was alone in a strange house with a strange man? Jack trampled down the rising anxiety. It was going to be fine, Anti was just a text away. And he really should get used to being on his own, he’s been doing good with that lately. “Alright,” he said. It came out a bit strangled. “While you do that, I…” Jack shook his head slowly. It felt like soup inside was swirling about. Just that simple motion was enough to make him fall back down into the pillow. “…’m gonna pass out again.”

Anti cracked a smile. “You do that. I’ll see you later.”

Jack might’ve mumbled a reply. He wasn’t sure, because inky darkness was already overcoming his vision and soon he was unconscious again.

\- - - - - - - - - -

Jack ended up staying in the bedroom in the House for the rest of the day, slowly recovering from the blood loss. He didn’t leave the bed, but Edward was very helpful in bringing him anything he needed. At one point Sam stopped resting, only to float over and curl up on the pillow next to his head. Anti showed up once more late at night, mumbling about the weirdness of this place. He stayed until Jack fell asleep for the night.

By the next day, he thought he felt well enough to get up and explore the House. Edward advised against it, but said, “I can’t really stop you. If you have to, be sure to take rests every so often and for the love of god, don’t do anything more than a walk, otherwise you’ll reopen the wound, which would be like being stabbed again and that’s gonna suck. So don’t do that.” Jack was starting to like this guy.

The bedroom was on the second floor. Jack knew this because he saw a pair of stairs leading down, but he never actually went down them. He explored the upper floor first. It was mostly bedrooms, and when he peeked inside the ones with open doors he saw most of them looked well-lived in. He…wasn’t actually sure how many there were. More than expected. They just kept popping up.

He started to understand why this place was so “weird” when he walked out onto a second-story balcony, looked over the view of the grounds and the small forest beyond, then came back inside to a hallway that he had most definitely not been the one he’d left from. He stared, spun around to look behind him, then said, “Sam? What just happened?”

Sam, hiding in his hoodie pocket, replied that they had no idea. This was a strange place, but maybe they needed to be here.

“…okay, guess we’re looking around this area now,” Jack mumbled. “Anti was right. This isn’t a normal place.” Anti, meanwhile, was gone for the day. Jack wasn’t sure where he was, but it wasn’t his business. Maybe he had glitch stuff to attend to.

Jack turned a corner and found a wide archway serving as a kitchen entrance. Two people were inside talking to each other. The taller one was a woman with her red hair in an undercut, wearing a t-shirt and jeans. The shorter one also had red hair, but theirs was clearly dyed, and they wore a short pleated skirt.

“I just want to go for a walk on the grounds!” The shorter one was saying. “I don’t get why I need it!”

“Yan, trust me, you will thank me later,” the taller one said sternly. Jack frowned. Her voice sounded…somehow familiar… “Now.” The woman opened the nearest cupboard and pulled something out. She shoved it toward the shorter one—Yan, apparently. “Take it, and leave for your walk.” She smiled to soften the harsh tone of her voice. “I hope you do have fun.”

Yan seemed to lighten up at that. “Thank you, Voight-san. I’m looking forward to staying here.”

“We are looking forward to having you! There is a glass sliding door you can use right here, see?” The woman pointed toward said glass door.

“Oh thank you again! I’ll be back to help with dinner!” Yan smiled, then pulled open the door and left.

The woman laughed quietly, in that way you do when you’re fond of someone. She then turned around, and caught sight of Jack. Her face paled. Before Jack could say anything, she lunged over to the counter, grabbed the nearest item, a cutting board, and threw it at him.

“Whoa!” Jack ducked behind the archway, watching the cutting board fly past where he’d just been. “Hey! I’m sorry, I don’t know what I did, but I didn’t mean it!” He closed his eyes, covered his head, and braced himself for something else to be thrown.

Instead, there was silence. Jack opened his eyes just in time to catch the woman poking her head around the archway to look at him. She seemed…confused, but also relieved. “Oh, I am sorry, I thought you were someone else,” she explained. “I did not hit you?”

Jack relaxed. “No, it missed.” Her voice was _really_ familiar.

“Good, good.” She walked over to him. “I have not seen you before. Are you staying here, or are you a volunteer?”

“Uh…guess I’m staying here. I don’t know for how long, though.”

“I see. That is fine, many people come and go.” She stuck out her hand. “I am Gretchen Voight, I am a volunteer here. I do cleaning and work with their computer department.”

Jack didn’t shake her hand. The moment she said her name, he realized why her voice—her accent—sounded familiar. “I’m Jack,” he said. “And, uh, I think I know who you were confusing me for.”

Gretchen’s expression soured, and she lowered her hand. “Oh, you do?”

“Yeah, uh…” Jack coughed awkwardly. “I used to live with him. He, uh, mentioned you. A lot. Your ex-husband, right?”

He didn’t think Gretchen’s expression could get any more unpleasant. He was proven wrong when it started to resemble a storm cloud. “We did not officially divorce,” she said, folding her arms. “But I think leaving the country after he was arrested gets the same point across.” She stared him down. “You…knew him? Lived with him?”

“Yeah…” Jack nodded. “I didn’t…actually know about any of the things he did for the longest time. Thought he was just a regular doctor. I…left…the minute I found out.” That was sort of the truth.

“It seems we have similar stories then.” Gretchen smiled slightly, but it faded away. “I am so sorry.”

Jack couldn’t stop the surprise from crossing his face. “Th-thanks, I guess.” Why did that…why were his eyes tearing up?

“Well, we can discuss this at a later time, if you want to,” Gretchen continued. “Do you need any help with anything? I would offer to give you a tour, but that is not so applicable in the House.”

“Yeah, I,uh,” Jack turned around, looking behind him before turning back. “I was _just_ on the upper floor. And I didn’t go down the stairs.”

“The House takes you where you need to be,” Gretchen said cryptically. “I have been volunteering here for a year now, and things get even stranger. You have not met the owners yet, I think?”

“No. Why, what’s up with them?”

“They are very…unusual.” Gretchen said the word like she wasn’t sure of a nicer one.

“I’m used to unusual,” Jack assured her. Of course he was, he literally had a living eyeball in his pocket right now. Sam peeked out, but Gretchen didn’t seem to notice.

“That is fantastic!” Gretchen grinned. “I hope you will enjoy your stay here, Jack. If you need anything, I am always available to talk. I can give you my phone, if you wish.”

“Uh…maybe later. Sorry.”

“Don’t worry, it is fine.” Gretchen’s response honestly surprised Jack. He realized he’d been expecting her to insist. “You do not need anything else?”

“I’m good, thanks.” Jack smiled waveringly. “I’m just going to keep looking around. This place is interesting.”

“Oh! If you plan to go out on the grounds, you need to come back here first.” Gretchen gestured toward the sliding glass door. “There are some animals that live in the surrounding trees, and sometimes they come into the grounds. You need to pick up food to make sure they do not bother you.”

Jack narrowed his eyes warily. “What kind of animals?”

Gretchen chewed her lip. “I forget the word in English. Many Eichhörnchen. Small, brown, with big teeth and bush tails. They like nuts.”

“…squirrels?”

“Yes, that is it!” Gretchen clapped her hands. “I know they sound tiny and harmless, but these ones are very ready to fight. They like peanut butter, so if you see some, give some to them and they will leave you alone.”

Well. Even though everyone had been telling him how weird this place was, he wasn’t expecting…that. Jack had to take a moment to process this, understand it, and accept it before he could talk again. “Okay then. I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Make sure you do. I will see you around, Jack?”

“Yeah…for a while, at least.” Jack tried not to shift uncomfortably. He turned to go. “Well. Goodbye, then.”

“Goodbye!” Gretchen waved at him as he left.

\- - - - - - - - - -

As the week progressed, Jack grew familiar with the House. Or, as familiar as someone could be when the layout seemed to change at will. As his wound healed, he ventured out more and more. Anti stuck around, appearing and disappearing at will just as he always had. He seemed…busy, somehow. But Jack didn’t ask about it.

The House seemed to run on a simple system. There were people who stayed here, and then there were people who worked here. The staff was mostly volunteers, who worked for little or no pay, and a small subsection of full-time workers. They kept the house in order, ran the business parts of the organization, provided food and tended the grounds, and generally helped out the people visiting. The residents would stay here for any number of days, from a single night to indefinitely. Edward, apparently one of the full-time workers, mentioned they had a couple people who stayed in the House permanently. He also explained that the House was owned and headed by a pair of men, who Jack had yet to see. In fact, he wasn’t even sure how many people worked or stayed here. The number seemed to shift as often as the House’s layout.

It was…a nice place. The residents were friendly, or at least civil, and the staff were happy to help with anything. Nobody asked any questions beyond how long he would stay, and they didn’t make any suggestions about how long that should be when he replied that he didn’t know. They always asked him if he needed anything, and always said they were available to talk.

It was so nice, that Jack wasn’t sure why he was uncomfortable here.

He kept telling himself that he really shouldn’t be. If anything, this was an upgrade from the hotel he’d been staying in. And apparently safer too, as everyone kept repeating the place couldn’t be found without the address. Maybe because of more weirdness. But…well, he didn’t know. All he knew was that the idea of everyone being so eager to help…the idea of help itself…didn’t quite sit well with him.

Seven days passed, and Jack was starting to think he should leave. He could do it at any moment. All he had to do was wear the same outfit he wore the day he got here instead of any of the clothes the House had been providing him, grab his phone and Sam, and walk right out. No one would stop him, or ask him where he was going, which…he was honestly still getting used to. Maybe he should.

That morning, while sitting in the bedroom he’d almost started to consider his, Jack texted Anti. **Where are you?**

The reply was immediate. **Som̸e͞wher̢e͟ ͞i͠n̨ ̢t̕h͏i͟s͢ f͝u̢c͝ki͡nģ ͢ma͏ze o̷f a h͏ou͞se. Why,͞ ̨you nee͢d somethi̢ng?**

That’s right, Anti had been hanging around today. He was still endlessly frustrated with the strangeness of the House, and doing his best to learn how it works. Honestly? Jack was half-convinced that the House liked to mess with Anti, and would purposefully mix up the rooms just for him. **I’m thinking about leaving today** , Jack texted.

**Is̵ ͏tha͡t͝ ̛what͢ y̵o̶u̸ want?**

Jack hesitated. **I don’t know.**

**T̶ry lea͡ving ̧for ͢a͝ l͏i̢t͠tle, s̢e͟e̡ if͞ y̕o̡u̴ w͠an͞t ţo come̸ ̧back.̷ ̛I'l͢l͢ ̡mee͟t u̢p ̸with y̵o̕u in̴ a ͢bit.**

That seemed like a good idea. Jack put his phone away, let Sam know he was about to leave so they could fly over and perch on his shoulder, and walked out the bedroom door and into a hallway. Not the hallway the bedroom was attached to. He sighed. Looked like he’d have to wander for the entrance today.

A few moments of trying to find the entrance later, Jack stopped. He could hear…he could hear piano music. Notes drifting through the air, sounding a bit muffled. He’d never heard music before. Was there even a piano here? Apparently there was. But maybe the House hadn’t wanted him to find it yet.

He turned toward the nearest door and creaked it open, peering inside. The room beyond looked a bit like a lounge, or maybe a parlor, he wasn’t sure what the difference was. In the center of this room was a piano. And at the piano, a woman was playing.

Jack stepped fully into the room. The notes filled the air, dancing around and across every surface. The woman playing had short dark hair and dark eyes as well, and she wore a simple black suit. Her delicate fingers drifted across the ivory keys with ease. The song was beautiful, a melancholy melody. Though there was a ring of hope buried in there somewhere.

The woman played for a couple minutes more, and Jack stood in the doorway and listened until it slowed to a stop and the last note faded, leaving just a faint feeling behind. Without looking away from the piano, the woman said, “Did you enjoy it?”

Jack jumped. “Oh, sorry, it’s just—just the door was open, and it was very pretty, but I-I should’ve realized you wanted to be alone, I’ll just—”

“I didn’t say that.” The woman looked toward him. “I asked you if you enjoyed it.”

Jack hesitated. “…yeah. I did.”

She chuckled, standing up. “If I didn’t want anyone to listen to it, I would’ve played in my room. It’s open for anyone who happens to pass by.” She began folding up the sheet music on the stand. Maybe it was the dull lighting in the room, but her skin looked oddly gray… “I think I know you. You’re a friend of Mark’s, correct?”

“Yeah.” Jack nodded.

“He’s a good man,” she mused. Then she turned to face Jack fully for the first time. “Is there anything I can help you with?”

Jack tensed at that phrase. He’d been hearing it everywhere, all the time from the House’s staff. “No, I’m fine—I mean, I’m okay.”

She stared at him. Her eyes really were very dark. “Do you mind if I talk with you?”

“I-I mean, I guess not.”

“Perfect.” She leaned over to the side of the piano and grabbed a cane that leaned there. Black, with a silver topper. “Come on, follow me.” She spun around and walked over to the perimeter of the room, where a glass door could be seen set in the wall. She swung it open, and went outside. Jack followed.

The light blinded him at first, and when he blinked it out of his eyes he saw they were out on the back patio of the House. He looked around for the woman, but couldn’t see her. Instead, he saw a man leaning on the wall dividing the patio from the grounds, looking out over the gardens. He had dark hair and dark eyes as well, and he wore a simple black suit. His skin looked oddly gray, and he held a black cane with a silver topper in one hand. The man looked back over his shoulder toward Jack, and said, “Well?”

Jack walked right up next to the man, leaning on the wall as well. “So, uh…” he said awkwardly. “You were that woman, huh? And…now you look like…”

“Like your friend Mark, I’m aware.” The man nodded. “He’s a friend of mine as well. He told me about you, you know. Not too much, just mentioned in passing that he gave you the address for the House.”

“Ah, I get it,” said Jack, only really sort of getting it. He turned to face the gardens. They were quite nice. Empty, as of right now. “So…this might be a little rude, but…you’re not human?”

“I was, a long time ago,” the man said, looking up towards the sky. For a moment, his eyes seemed to catch the light, bits of red and blue skimming along the edge of his dark iris. “But not anymore, due to one night a long, long time ago. This doesn’t seem strange to you?”

“Well, yeah, but I’ve seen a lot of weird things,” Jack shrugged. “My two best friends aren’t human either, and my housemates—” He stopped.

“Do you want to talk about your housemates, Jack?” The man asked gently.

Jack didn’t say anything, just shook his head.

“I see.” He paused. “Then, perhaps you would like to explain why you were planning on leaving.”

Jack jumped, looking over at him. “How did you—”

“The House told me. They’re an old friend of mine. And we’ve been…connected ever since that night I mentioned. If you ever wish to talk to them yourself, you only need to visit the mirror in the foyer.” Another pause. A breeze has started up, gently swaying the trees and flowers of the gardens. “So? Would you like to talk about it?”

Jack watched the movement of the trees for a while. Sam, sitting on his shoulder, edged a bit closer to his neck, offering silent support. “I…I guess. But I can’t. Can’t explain, I mean. Because I…I don’t know why. I hadn’t even really decided…I might’ve, though.”

“Hmm…” The man’s fingers tapped a pattern on the top of the cane. “Do you not like it here? Has anyone been unkind?”

“No! No, that’s not what I mean at all,” Jack hurried to say. “Everyone’s great. The people are nice, the workers—not that they’re not people, but you know, the ones who aren’t staying here, they’re…they’re so _helpful._ ” He fell silent for a moment. “And…and I think that’s what’s wrong.”

“That we wish to help?”

“I guess. Sort of. It’s just…” He took a moment to gather his thoughts. “Everyone wants to help, you’re right. But…I don’t think you can help some things.”

The man said nothing, but made a small gesture as if asking Jack to continue.

“I…I’ve seen some things,” Jack said softly. “I know that sounds like a cliche line from a movie, but I have. And I…I forgot those things. People made me forget those things. They tried to control me, and I thought they were my friends for—for so long, but—” He took a deep breath. “And I’ve been trying to go back to normal. To how I was before. But…I don’t know if I remember how it was before. I’ve been doing as good as I can but…” There were warm tears welling in his eyes. “…but I think maybe a part of me will always be—”

“Broken.”

Jack looked over at the man, blinking away the tears. The man, in turn, looked at him.

“That may not be the exact word you were going to say, but it conveys the idea, doesn’t it?” The man nodded. “It’s a reasonable fear, Jack. After anything that has hurt you as deeply as you are describing, how can you pick up the pieces and continue on as usual? How can you put yourself back together? It may seem impossible.”

Jack wiped at his eyes. “But it’s all going to work out, isn’t it? All going to go back to usual?”

“Oh, no. Not exactly.”

Jack looked back up, startled.

“A vase that’s been shattered will never look the same, even if all the shards are found and glued back together. But it is still a beautiful vase. It is still a functional vase worthy of being cared for. It’s been changed. There are marks left, some invisible to the naked eye. And that doesn’t make it any less of what it is.” The man paused. “Some things can’t be fixed,” he said softly. “And that’s okay.”

For a long moment, Jack couldn’t say anything. He noticed the tears slowly falling down his face, but he paid them no mind. “So…is it going to be alright?”

“Of course it is. You say you don’t know if you can go back to normal. But the normal you had before has now changed. You can make a new normal, one that embraces the changes and pain you’ve gone through. And it will be just as good, as beautiful, as life was before.” The man tilted his head. “Of course…you can’t remake a whole without trying to place the pieces together again.”

“No…no, you can’t.” Jack looked up at the sky. The sky that had been there for so long, that had seen so much change and disaster. The saying was that time healed all wounds. There might be a scar, but who said that was a bad thing? “Thanks,” he said. “I needed that, uh…” His face turned a bit red. “I just realized I never got your name.”

The man chuckled. “You can call me Dark. Most people do.”

“Dark…” Jack tried out the name. It was sort of fitting, with the man’s appearance, but…also not, in other ways. “Thanks, Dark.”

“You’re welcome.” Dark then frowned. “I have the strangest feeling…” He turned around.

Jack did too. “Oh. Hi, Anti. How long have you been standing there?”

Anti was standing in the middle of the patio, arms folded. “Not long,” he said. “I just heard that thing about remaking a whole.” His form shimmered like he was about to glitch, but then he stopped and simply walked up to Jack. “You…still want to leave?”

Jack thought about it. “No, I…I think I’ll stay. You, uh, you wouldn’t mind getting my stuff from the hotel over to here, would you?”

“Sure. I’ll check you out too, probably for the best.” Anti then looked over to Dark. “So, you’re the guy who runs this place?”

“I am one of them, yes,” Dark said.

“Ah. So the other one’s your boyfriend, then?”

“Wil is **not** my boyfriend,” Dark said firmly. “And he never was.”

Anti raised an eyebrow. “You sure?”

“Yes, I am sure.” He sighed. “Why do I expect you to know the difference between romance and close friendship? When you’ve never felt the former, as far as I know?”

“Wait.” Jack took a step back, looking in between the two of them. “You guys _know_ each other?!”

“Yes,” Anti said bluntly.

“We’ve had a few encounters over the years…” Dark mused. “You’re still as inelegant and irreverent as always.”

“Thank you.” Anti grinned. “You’re still as fancy and oh-so-clever as always.”

Dark smiled, and tipped his head.

Jack looked at Anti. “You are going to explain this to me later.”

“Alright, alright, but I make no promises to go into detail.” Anti glitched back over to the patio entrance. “You coming inside?” he called.

Jack took a slight step backwards, looking over the silhouette of the House. It felt like it was watching him. But with a fond eye. “Yeah, I’m coming.” And he hurried to catch up as Anti went back into the house, Sam still perched on his shoulder happily.


	21. Ways Around

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Continuing with his plan to subvert the others' attempts, Jackie tries to get on Marvin's good side...or at least off his bad side. He then tries to get through to Schneep, and convert him over to his plan.

Jackie had been considering tonight’s mission as a high risk. Nothing he couldn’t handle, he’d learned a long time ago not to be cocky. Still, he was expecting trouble. But this was going ridiculously well so far.

The house where his target was staying was surprisingly low-guarded. Jackie only had to find one window without a guard, disable the motion sensor he saw on the sill, and climb inside. From there, sneak up on the patrolling guards in the dark hallways and take them out. One _did_ manage to sound the alarm, but by that point he was almost to his target’s room. A few rough scrapes with guards later, and he was already standing outside it. And mostly uninjured too, aside from where he was sure he’d have some bad bruises in the morning.

Well, Jackie wasn’t about to complain. He had enough stress already, what with trying to stall the search for Jack without Jameson or Marvin finding out. He didn’t need to be bleeding out on top of that.

He stared at this last door with his hands on his hips. Just like the rest of the house, it was simple, but clearly high-class and expensive. Guess being the head of an illegal smuggling ring could make you a lot of money. He’d seen the light of the room on the other side was on while he was outside, so his target was probably awake. And if he wasn’t before, then he definitely could hear the alarm system currently blaring. He would be prepared. You could never be too careful with these criminals. Jackie walked some ways down the hall, grabbed the body of a guard he’d knocked unconscious, and dragged it over. Then he stood a little to the side of the door with his hand on the knob. A few deep breaths and a countdown…one…two…three!

Jackie swung the door open and threw the body inside while ducking out of the way himself. Not a moment too soon. The second the body was thrown, there was the sound of a silenced gunshot. Jackie laughed dully. “Did you hit that guy?” He pulled one of the throwing knifes out from his belt and threw it blindly inside the room, hoping to trigger another shot.

This time, instead of a gunshot, there was a clicking sound. “Damn!” A voice whisper-shouted, loud enough for Jackie to hear.

“Ha!” Jackie pulled out another knife, and stepped inside the room. It was a bedroom, with a canopy bed in one corner and a large desk scattered with papers in the other. His target stood near the desk, wearing what looked like an expensive suit and fumbling with a pistol.

“You do know that’s out of bullets, right?” Jackie raised an eyebrow. “That’s entirely your fault, by the way. I was prepared to have to drag some sort of shield in here with me and have an epic gun fight.”

The man looked up at him, scowled, and dropped the pistol, instead pulling a knife from inside his suit jacket. “What do you want, Red?”

Jackie didn’t answer, instead looking around the room some more. “This is a nice place you got here, Michael. Can I call you Michael?” He flashed a grin at the way the man bristled, not used to being addressed so carelessly. “How’d you get enough money to afford this place, Michael? How many drugs did you have to sell and smuggle in and out of Mirygale? Or did you buy this with weapons money?”

“How’d you find this place?” The man, Michael, did not seem to care for Jackie’s chit-chat.

“Well, you give the location out to your enforcers, don’t you? Or maybe just to the one guy I found. He told me. Really didn’t want to, but I have my ways. Would you like a demonstration?”

“Get to the point or I’ll gut you.”

“The blunt type, I see, I see. Well, my point is—” Jackie threw the knife before he even finished the sentence, running forward after it as it sailed right toward the man, Michael.

Michael cried out as the knife hit him. He’d tried to dodge, but was caught off guard and slow. But he was more prepared for Jackie running at him. He slashed with his own knife, forcing Jackie to duck. While he was down, Jackie tackled Michael’s legs and brought him to the ground as well. The two of them crashed against the desk, knocking some of the paperweights off. Jackie rolled away from a couple more swipes with the knife, and before Michael could get up again, darted forward and rammed his fist into his face with enough force that Michael’s head flew backward and slammed into the corner of the desk. After the impact, Michael slumped to the ground, completely still.

Jackie backed away, eyes narrowing. Did he die? No, his chest was still moving steadily. Still, he could be pretending to be unconscious. Jackie withdrew his third knife and quickly stabbed it into the man’s leg. No reaction. Okay, he was really out.

That being established, Jackie withdrew his knife, grabbed the one he’d lodged in the man’s chest earlier, then stood up and walked over to the desk, wasting no time in rummaging through the drawers. It wasn’t long before he found the documents he was looking for. All containing information about the smuggling ring this Michael guy was the head of. Where they made drop offs, which members were currently in the city, and how much of their goods they smuggled—be those goods drugs, weapons, or people. Jackie gathered all the documents containing important information together, sliding them into one of the hidden pockets on his suit. Then he turned to look back at the unconscious man.

What to do with this guy? Clearly, he couldn’t just let him go. Couldn’t turn him over to the police either, he’d been pardoned several times. And after one of those occasions, Jackie had noticed the city’s district attorney driving a fancy new car bought with money that she had _mysteriously_ come into.

Now, the next solution was obvious. Jackie was holding two knives. The guy couldn’t defend himself. But…Jackie remembered the list of smuggled “goods.” And how many of those “goods”—a disturbing number, more than he’d expected—had been _living._ No. His usual method would be too quick.

Jackie patted down his jumpsuit for more of those hidden pockets, finding the right one after a while and pulling out his phone. He kept it completely off while on patrol, he’d learned the hard way that the bad guys could totally hear the text tone, and even the vibrate. Once his phone was booted up, he took off his glove so he could dial a familiar number on the touchscreen.

It rang for a long time before the other end was picked up. “How important is this? One-ten scale?” Schneep asked.

“Uh, I dunno, guess it’s pretty important for me, and I guess you—” Jackie stopped. He could hear noises in the background, sounding a bit like a wounded animal. “Am I on speaker?”

“Yes, ah, sorry about that. My hands are not free to hold the phone right now, I am preparing something for the patient. Can you make this quick?”

Jackie bit his lip, wrapping his arm around himself. Of course he called Schneep at this time. “Yeah, well, speaking about patients, I was wondering if I could drop one off at your clinic. But it sounds like you have your hands full, I can just—”

“I can take on two at once!” Schneep said eagerly. “It is when you start getting more that trouble starts to happen, they tend to wander off. Come by as soon as possible, I can finish this operation quickly.”

“Alright. I’ll be there in like, twenty minutes.”

“I got it. Thank you, Jackie.”

“You’re welcome. Bye.”

“Goodbye!”

Jackie pulled the phone away from his head and hung up. He closed his eyes for a moment and sighed. He didn’t think of himself as squeamish, but god, he was not looking forward to visiting the clinic. Maybe he could make it quick, he wouldn’t even have to look. He opened his eyes again and started to walk around the desk, only for his foot to bump into something. He looked down.

It must’ve been one of the paperweights that he and Michael had knocked off the desk in their brief struggle. Only…now that he was looking at it, it was…weird. It was a crystal ball, smaller than a volleyball but still too large to fit in just one hand. And inside it…was mist. Moving clouds, circling around the inside surface of the sphere, making patterns like that painting, Starry Night. “Holy shit…” Jackie whispered. You only saw shit like that in the movies.

He couldn’t help it. He leaned over and picked it up, looking into it. Then, something strange started to happen. From the point where his ungloved hand touched the glass, the mist started to change color, going from a colorless off-white to a dark red. It clustered into the center of the sphere, and then the cloudy mist began spinning, faster and faster until there was a miniature tornado two-ended tornado inside, connecting to the glass in two places. Jackie decided to revise his earlier statement: “Holy _fuck._ ”

Jackie glanced over at the unconscious man. How did a person like that get something like this? Probably stolen, or given as payment. Well, it didn’t matter. He wasn’t going to need it any longer. Jackie tucked the sphere under his arm and prepared to go. He had something in mind for it.

* * *

About an hour later, Jackie was back in the house. In the basement, specifically, knocking on the door to the library. There was a high probability that Marvin was inside. And if he wasn’t, that meant that he would either be at a party getting more “volunteers,” or he was in his…other room in the basement. And you couldn’t pay or threaten Jackie to go inside that one. There was also a small chance that he was asleep, but Jackie was already laughing as the thought occurred to him. Yeah, no, Marvin didn’t go to sleep until at least three o’clock.

Sure enough, the door opened a crack, and Jackie saw a familiar masked face glaring at him through the gap. “What?” He barked.

Jackie held up the crystal ball. “Do you want this?”

Marvin opened the door just a bit wider. “Does it do anything?”

“Well, uh.” Jackie had put his gloves back on, but now he took one off again and placed his hand against the glass, watching the mist change colors and once again form that dark red tornado. “That.”

The change was almost instant. Marvin straightened, eyes widening and the door opening all the way. “Get inside.” Once Jackie stepped inside, he snatched the crystal ball out of his hands.

“You’re welcome,” Jackie drawled. He leaned a bit closer to Marvin so he could peer at the sphere. “What is it?”

“Shhh, hang on a moment.” Marvin stared intently at the crystal ball as the tornado dissipated, becoming swirling mist once more. But that didn’t last long. Again, color spread throughout the clouds from the point of contact where Marvin’s fingers touched the glass. At first it was green, but soon that was eaten by a racing purple. Once the purple had covered the entire area of the sphere, the mist exploded, so suddenly that Jackie jumped. The mist had changed into rapidly darting purple sparks, like the byproduct of a forest fire gone out of control. The sparks seemed to snap furiously, _angrily,_ at the glass. Marvin grinned. “Oh. Oh this is—this is fucking _fantastic._ ”

“What is it?” Jackie asked again, bracing himself in case Marvin got irritated with his questions and decided to snap at him.

“This is a soul seeker,” Marvin said excitedly. He placed the sphere on a nearby desk and turned to the bookshelves, pulling down books and flipping through their pages before dropping them and repeating the process on another book. “You see, soul-based magic is very hard. You need, like, a natural affinity for it or it’s like trying to shoot at bats in the dark. But there are tools you can use to make it easier for you.” He gestured back toward the sphere. “That seeker can show you a visual representation of a person’s soul, and if I can learn to read the properties and qualities of what it shows—and if I manage to collect some more tools, too—oh, fuck, dude. I could do so much cool shit!” He grinned, practically glowing with excitement. Jackie had never seen Marvin so…passionate. “How’d you find it?”

Jackie shrugged. “I went to take out the head of a smuggling ring tonight. He had it on his desk. And I thought it was cool so I took it.”

“Where is this guy now?” Marvin’s eyes narrowed. “Did you kill him?”

“No. But, uh, Henrik might, if you’re not quick.”

“Okay. I can pop by the clinic soon, that’s fine.” Marvin turned back to the book he had open for a bit, but then he paused and turned back around. “Why are you giving this to me? What do you want?”

Jackie raised his hands. “Consider it a ‘please don’t kill me’ present.”

Marvin snorted, rolling his eyes. “Alright, I will. Now leave so I can study this without worrying about you looking over my shoulder and making annoying comments.”

That was more like the Marvin he knew. Jackie nodded, then turned around and started to leave. Getting on Marvin’s good side was always a good idea, but especially now, when Jackie was going behind his back with the search for Jack. And maybe if Marvin was distracted enough, he wouldn’t be putting his all into said search. That would give Jackie more time to work on his other steps. And as long as he wasn’t found out—

Jackie gasped as he exited the library, turned, and ran smack into Jameson. “Oh, jesus, you startled me,” he said, laughing a bit to cover up his true nervousness.

{My apologies,} Jameson said, inclining his head. {What were you doing down here? I don’t usually see you down here.}

That was a normal question, right? The tone of mental voice didn’t sound like he was suspicious, did it? Did mental voices have tones? “Well, I don’t normally see you awake this late,” Jackie said. He was proud of how calm he was. “Did I wake you up?”

Jameson raised an eyebrow. {No. Unlike some people, I don’t sleep in my day clothes.} He gestured to his clothes. Vest, dress shirt and pants, tie. Didn’t look very comfortable to sleep in. {I simply…haven’t wanted to go to sleep yet today. I’ve been finding I’m a victim of insomnia recently. Anyway, did you need something from the library?}

“Nah, I was just, uh, dropping something off for Marvin.” Jackie gestured back toward the library door. “Thought that maybe if I did something nice for him, he’d rethink throwing me out a window to my death.”

{He wouldn’t throw you out a window. But nevertheless, good strategy.} Jameson nodded in approval. {Oh, while I have you here, I’ve been meaning to ask you. How’s your search going?}

“For Jack? Uh, haven’t made a lot of progress, really,” Jackie admitted. “I mean, it’s been a month, trails start to go cold. And my hacking skills only go so far when he’s stopped posting on social media, and maybe using the Internet altogether. Not to mention that glitch bitch protecting him, you know?” Of course, he wasn’t really trying. But Jameson didn’t need to know that.

{Understandable. I haven’t made any progress either, and neither has Marvin. It’s quite frustrating.} Jameson frowned. {We need to start considering other channels. Do you think you know anyone you can get information from? By any means?}

Jackie paused. “I can look into a few things, yeah. I’ll update you.” 

{Excellent.} Jameson perked up. {Now if you excuse me, I need to get into the library.}

“Oh yeah, sure dude.” Jackie stepped aside as Jameson walked past him and through the library doors. The moment he was gone, Jackie hurried for the stairs.

Jameson hadn’t caught on yet, right? Would Jackie even be able to tell if he had? Or would Jameson let him carry on as normal, until the opportune moment to sabotage his plan came around? No, no these thoughts were ridiculous. He was just being paranoid. Jameson had never before looked into the others’ minds without permission, and Jackie was sure he hadn’t given him a reason to start now.

Still, he didn’t let his guard down. He hasn’t let it down in a while.

* * *

Jackie slept late the next morning, like he always did after patrols. The first thing he did after opening his eyes was groan and close them again. It felt like his assessment from last night was correct; he definitely had some bad bruises. Everything hurt when he moved. He regretted taking the top bunk of the bunk bed whenever he thought of climbing down the ladder.

It took him a while to get up, deciding to opt out of a shower and settling for throwing on a hoodie and brushing his hair. He wondered if Schneep was awake yet. He could ask him to look at some of these bruises as an excuse to talk to him. Jackie sighed, and left his room, avoiding looking at the empty bottom bunk where Jack used to stay. Hopefully, that would stay empty, if everything went accordingly.

Before he could fully start the day, he had one stop to make. The bedroom across from his had its door shut tight, and he had to jiggle the handle a bit to get it to open. The inside was dark with the blinds shut tight, and when he flipped on the lights every surface was covered with a month’s worth of dust. He refused to let Jameson send any of his “cleaning people” inside, in case they messed anything up. The bed in the corner had a cluster of medical equipment standing next to it, which the group had…acquired. And in the bed, sound asleep, was Chase.

Jackie didn’t look at him for a while, instead checking the IV and other equipment. There was really no way of telling when Schneep would or would not remember that he needed to check on it himself, so better safe than sorry. Once Jackie was sure everything was properly maintained, he finally turned to Chase. His eyes were shut as tight as ever. No change at all, not even a shift in position. At least there was no sign of anything going wrong.

He couldn’t help but let a growl escape. Okay, he didn’t blame Jack for ditching them, he was better off that way. But why on earth partner up with Anti? The glitch defended criminals, constantly seeped money from the group’s bank accounts, and then this happened. Oh yeah, great idea, hang out with the guy who put another guy in a coma! Jackie was sure Anti had a reason for that, but fuck it, no reason was good enough for that.

After a while of sitting nearby and watching for any change, Jackie stood up and left the room, closing the door behind him. They really needed to find a way to wake Chase up. Not only because being in a coma was generally a less than ideal state of being, but because after Jackie went through with his plan, he would have to get the hell out of here real quick. And he didn’t want to leave his sleeping friend at the mercy of Marvin and Jameson, who he quite honestly half-suspected of not trying at all to find a solution to the coma. Jackie had been sneaking into the library whenever the two of them were out to try and find something, but he had absolutely no idea what was going on in any of those magic books. Still, he had to try and find something. Chase couldn’t just be stuck.

Jackie walked down the stairs and into the kitchen, trying his best to avoid moving in specific ways that would cause the ache in his bruises to suddenly flare. Still, he went a little too fast turning into the kitchen, and hissed under his breath.

“Are you doing okay, my friend?”

Jackie looked over to the table in the adjoined dining room. Schneep was sitting at it, wearing pajamas, which probably meant he’d also gotten up late. Jackie noted the two coffee mugs sitting by his place. “No, not really,” he admitted, opening the fridge and scanning the contents. “I was hoping I’d feel better in the morning, but I guess I don’t.”

“Yes, that is usually how it works the first day.” Schneep took a sip from one of the mugs. “Would you like me to check on everything for you? I could do it now, should not take long.”

“Umm, yes, but not right now. Get dressed first and let me eat breakfast.”

Schneep looked down at his pajama pants. “Ah. Is probably good idea, thank you.” He stood up and started to leave, before pausing and turning back around. “Oh! I have forgot, did I tell you thank you last night? For bringing in the new patient.”

“Uh, no, you didn’t.” Jackie grabbed a yogurt and swung the fridge door shut. “Does that warrant thanks?”

“Yes, of course it does! The patients do not seem grateful at all, so I will do it for them.” Schneep sniffed. “Of course, Marvin did come in later and spend some time talking to the new one. I do not know what he said, but it very upset the patient, causing many problems. I am running out of sedations. They are not easy to get.”

Jackie felt a lump of guilt rise up in his stomach, but he pushed it down with the memories of what was on those documents he took, and what exactly this organization smuggled. “Well, you’re welcome, I guess. Now go get dressed.”

“Okay, okay!”

About an hour later, Jackie met Schneep in the small “examination room” they had in the house. Really, it was a spare room in the hall by the stairs that Schneep had commandeered. Nobody minded. It was a lot easier to treat suspicious injuries at home than risk going to the hospital, and everyone except Marvin felt a bit uncomfortable around Schneep’s clinic.

“So what’s the diagnosis? Am I dying?” Jackie was sitting on the examination table. He had taken off his hoodie to let Schneep examine the gathering bruises. His arms were alright, but there were a lot dotting across his torso in a pattern of black, purple, and yellow that just looked painful.

“Do not be ridiculous, you cannot die from bruising.” Schneep rolled his eyes. “Unless it is inside. You are not complaining of internal pains, are you?”

“No, that’s all good.” Jackie hesitated for a moment. “Can…can I talk to you?”

Schneep didn’t answer for a while, too busy examining the bruising. “Be careful with the ones around the scars on your chest, those cannot feel good.” He looked up. “Yes, about what?”

“Well…” Jackie took a deep breath, toying with the ends of his hair. “It’s about this idea to get Jack back, you kno—”

He was cut off by a loud groaning sound. Schneep folded his arms. “Not this again.”

“No, shut up and listen to me!” Jackie snapped. Schneep blinked, taken aback. Jackie wasn’t usually one for raising his voice, at least not at people other than Marvin. But god, he’d been trying to get through to Schneep for a month with little progress, and he was starting to lose it. “I know every single argument you’re going to give me. You’re going to say that Jack isn’t in his right mind and we need to get him back. Then you’re going to ask me if I miss him and twist any answer I give you. And when I try to explain that maybe Jack would be better off on his own, you’re going to freak out because he’s our friend and you don’t want to leave him.”

Schneep blinked slowly. “Okay, then.”

Jackie rubbed his temple. “I’m sorry, that sounded harsh. But god, it’s so hard to get through to you.”

“I have been told I am stubborn,” Schneep admitted.

“You’re more than stubborn, Henrik,” Jackie mumbled.

“Well, we can try something new this time.” Schneep jumped up onto the examination table to sit next to Jackie. “Tell me why you think it is better for Jack to leave, and I will tell you why I do not want to never see him again.”

“It’s not that you would never see him again, not necessarily.” Jackie privately wondered if that would actually be a good idea, but he decided to push that aside for another day.

“Then what is it?”

Jackie sighed. “Henrik. Schneep. Do you remember how many times you put something in Jack’s drink so he’d fall asleep?”

Schneep tilted his head. “I do not keep track of that, why?”

“Because did it never occur to you that maybe you shouldn’t’ve done that?!”

“Why? Sometimes Jack needs sleep, sometimes we need him to not be here, is both with.”

“No, it’s—gah!” Jackie punched the surface of the examination table. “Dude, he’s stumbled across you in the middle of your ‘operations,’ freaked out, and ran away. Do you want to keep scaring him like that?!”

“Is not my fault he is squeamish! If it bothered him, why did he not say anything?!”

“Because fucking magic man and Jameson made him forget!” Jackie grabbed Schneep by the shoulders, staring him square in the eyes. “He didn’t remember half the shit that went on in this house and that was the _only_ reason he stayed! then once he did remember, oops, time to go! He doesn’t _want_ to be here, Henrik! He’s here because Chase made Jameson keep him here!”

Schneep was speechless in the face of this tirade. For a moment, the two of them just stared at each other. Then, Schneep reached up and pulled Jackie’s hands away from his shoulders. He stood up and walked the perimeter of the room, arms folded, muttering things to himself that Jackie couldn’t quite catch. After a few minutes, he stopped, and turned back to Jackie, eyes piercing through his glasses. “So. What you are saying,” he said slowly, “is that Jack was not actually friends with us?”

Jackie felt something twist at the crack in Schneep’s voice. “No, I’m not saying that,” he said softly. “I’m sure he was, somewhere in there. But you know, not all friends live together. And people have their own lives outside their friends, but they didn’t let Jack have that.”

“And Chase,” Schneep stated. “He started this?”

“He was…scared,” Jackie guessed. “Scared that Jack would leave forever. Just like you are, actually. He got desperate. I’m not saying it was a good idea. In fact, I think it was a pretty bad one. Just that he had his reasons, and wasn’t just being cruel.”

Schneep nodded, slowly, blinking. “So then…Chase is…asleep, yes?” Jackie nodded, relieved that Schneep remembered that. Sometimes he didn’t, it was honestly a toss-up. “So then why do they still want to find Jack?”

“I don’t know. I think Marvin thinks he’ll tell the police about everything that was going on in the house. And Jameson…just…doesn’t like to let his things go, you know?” Jackie suppressed a shiver.

Schneep was quiet for a long moment. Jackie was starting to worry if he’d lost him, when he said, “Well, I do not think that is a good enough reason to climb inside someone’s mind.”

Jackie perked up. “So…so you get it now?”

“I think I do,” Schneep said, nodding again. “I think I understand why you are so insistent on Jack not belonging here. You have a plan, don’t you? To make sure they do not get him?”

“Well, yeah…kinda.” Jackie laughed nervously. “Honestly, I’m sort of…planning it. As I go along.”

“Of course you are,” Schneep sighed. “Well, tell me what you have now, and I will make it better than you would.”

Jackie grinned. So, the first roadblock was complete. Well, sort of. Schneep was on his side, he just needed to make sure Schneep stayed there. Luckily he didn’t seem to be going through a bad period right now, it might last a while. “Well…” he paused to gather his thoughts.

In the silence, there was a slight electric crackle.

Schneep and Jackie stiffened in unison. Then Jackie bolted off the operating table while Schneep headed to the nearest cabinet and rummaged around for something he could defend himself with. “Where was it? Where did it come from?” Jackie asked, pulling on his hoodie.

“It was high up, I am sure!” There was a clatter as a bunch of medical tools fell out of the cabinet.

“High up?” Jackie scanned the tops of the high row of cabinets, then craned his neck higher. He stopped. “Was…was that always there?”

Schneep looked toward him. “What?”

“That!” Jackie didn’t even bother to point, just ran over to the nearest row of cabinets and climbed on top, oblivious to Schneep’s shouting. His hand darted into the corner of the room, wrapping around a small device and pulling it away before jumping back to the ground. He immediately gasped and doubled over. “O-ow…”

“You fucking moron, Jackie, you are still hurt!” Schneep scolded, walking over. “What was so important to get in pain over?”

Jackie held up his hand. “This.” It was a small, black plastic object big enough to fit in his palm, shaped like a sphere cut in half. “It’s a camera, Henrik.”

Schneep gaped, then reached forward and took it, turning it over in his hands as he examined it. He nodded. “Very nice camera, as well.” He looked over to Jackie. “You think…he has been watching us through this? For how long?”

“Probably for a long, long time,” Jackie said, taking the camera back. He stared at it a bit more. “Do you think there’s more?”

“Of course there is, I am willing to say they are all over the house. It explains why he always seems to know so much about us.”

Jackie nodded absentmindedly. “Well…do you think that if we tell Marvin and Jameson about this, they’d decide to take some time to try and find all the cameras?”

“I think so…” Schneep’s eyes widened. “Oh, that is your plan, then? To stall them in their search to find Jack?”

“Yep.” Jackie nodded. “At least…until I—we know where he is first. And once we know that…we can make sure to get him away from them. And from the glitch, too.”

“They will not be stalled forever,” Schneep warned. “Marvin is determined, and Jamie has endless patience.”

“I know, I know, but we don’t have to stall forever.” Jackie took a deep breath. “Just until we get them out of the way.”

In his hand, the camera spasmed and died, leaving behind a static crackling that almost sounded like giggling.


	22. Soul Searching

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jackie and Schneep try to wake Chase up, and meanwhile, Marvin thinks he's found a way to finally find Jack. Though it doesn't quite go according to plan...

Normally an explosion followed by cursing loud enough to travel through floors of a house would be cause for alarm. Not so much in this household. Schneep only paused a bit to make sure his coffee wasn’t knocked over by the force of the explosion. If previous experiences were any indication, someone would come storming into the living room in three…two…one.

There was the sound of a door slamming somewhere in the house and then Marvin stomped into the living room, fuming. Quite literally, given the ends of his hair were emitting smoke. He barely glanced at Schneep, sitting curled up in his usual armchair with coffee and his phone, before waltzing right past into the kitchen. The clatter of cupboards opening soon followed.

“How is it going?” Schneep asked innocently.

Something broke in the kitchen. “Fuck!”

“I take that means it’s not going well.”

“No, I just dropped the fucking cup.” More rummaging sounds. “But it’s still not going well, no.”

“Take a break,” Schneep suggested, not even looking up from his phone.

Marvin didn’t even grace that with a response. Though he might’ve been busy cleaning up whatever mess of broken glass he made.

The front door slammed open and Jackie came running in, skidding to a halt halfway across the room. Schneep immediately dropped his phone and stood up. “Jackie, are you alright? Are you okay?”

Jackie waved away his concern, though that was maybe because he was busy trying to catch his breath, doubled over. Evidently, he’d run the whole way back. At some point the hood of his costume had fallen down, but he didn’t seem to mind. Marvin peeked out of the kitchen and looked at Jackie with idle curiosity, but disappeared back into it a second later.

“Are you sure?” Schneep closed the distance. He started to reach out, but hesitated. He was never sure when people wanted comfort.

“‘m fine,” Jackie finally said, straightening. “Pretty sure I just…got cemented as an even worse person in the eyes of the media…but not hurt.” Jackie was carrying two bags. A flat, black one sealed with Velcro, and a brown backpack. He shoved the Velcro bag at Schneep. “That’s yours.”

Schneep’s eyes lit up. He grabbed the bag, patting it down before pulling back one of the Velcro straps and peering inside. He grinned. “This is good! Oh, thank you. Jackie, we can maybe do it tonight.”

“Do what tonight?” Marvin poked his head back out.

“Well, since you are being absolutely no help in the waking-up-our-friend department, we thought we’d try something else,” Jackie explained. He shrugged off the backpack. “Also, this is yours.”

Marvin’s hand darted out and immediately snatched it. He didn’t look inside it, just slung it over his shoulder and grinned. “Nice. I’ll be heading back down, then. I can get this set up tonight.”

“You’re welcome,” Jackie remarked. “I’d love to be your errand boy anytime.” Marvin didn’t answer, of course, just walked past and back over towards the basement. Jackie stared after him. “What are you drinking? Don’t take that glass downstairs unless you’re planning on bringing it back up.”

In response, Marvin looked him straight in the eyes and downed the contents of the glass in seconds before placing the now empty cup down on the table and vanishing down the hall. Jackie frowned, then picked up the glass and smelled the inside. He reeled back. “That’s like, fake cherries and flowers and sugar, what the hell?”

“What did you think it would be?” Schneep asked, a smile teasing at his mouth. “Blood?”

“I dunno, alcohol?”

“Is probably the magic version of an energy drink.” Schneep glanced down the hall. “What did you give him, anyway?”

“I…don’t know,” Jackie admitted. “Ever since I got him that soul orb thing, he asked me to keep a look out for other specific things. I saw one while out getting your stuff tonight, in the window of a shop, and figured, why not get it so I’ll be on his good side?” He cleared his throat. “We’ll, uh, kinda need that good will.”

Schneep nodded.”Well…it is not too late—”

“It’s midnight.”

“…it is not too late,” Schneep continued. “If we hurry, we can at least start the process.”

“Yeah, I’d rather get this over with. Let’s go.” The two of them hurried upstairs.

A short, familiar walk down the hall later, and they arrived at Chase’s room. Jackie paced the length of one of the walls, running his hand over the dresser and collecting dust. Schneep was fiddling with the medical equipment surrounding the bed. Jackie wasn’t going to lie and say this didn’t make him nervous. Schneep’s medical knowledge was…questionable. One time, he told Jackie that humans had come to the earth fourteen years ago. But that _had_ been in the middle of one of his worse periods, and Schneep always seemed to understand how equipment worked, even if everything else was sometimes sketchy.

“Okay, it all looks good,” Schneep finally said. He’d set the Velcro bag on the nightstand, and now he pulled it closer to him and opened it. Inside, tucked in sleeves, were two rows of…Jackie didn’t know the proper term for them, but the resembled syringes without the needles. There were syringes in there, too, empty ones.

“I hope you know how much trouble it was to get those,” Jackie said. “I think the only reason I’m not hurt is because hospitals don’t arm their staff. Still, I expect compensation for all the stress I went under.”

“I’ll buy you ice cream,” Schneep said absentmindedly, playing with the tools inside the bag.

“Thanks.” Jackie paused, stopping his pacing. “We, uh…don’t need all of those, right? We can give them back once we’re done?”

“Huh.” Schneep took a moment to look things over. “Well, I do not think we will need all twenty doses. At most maybe three. Five if we want to push it. Any more than that will come with danger.”

“…so I can give it back once we’re done?” Jackie repeated.

“Yes, you should be able to.”

“Oh thank god.” Jackie’s shoulders slumped. He was well aware of the illegal things he’d done over the course of his ‘career,’ but stealing from a hospital was a whole new level, especially when he couldn’t justify it as helping the needs of the many. Really, he was only helping one person here, and himself.

“Okay.” Schneep picked up a syringe and tapped the side of it. “Here we go.” He turned to the bed, with Chase asleep on it—who’d been asleep on it for the past…two months. A little bit longer, if you consider the coma happened in late May, and it was now the first of August. For a moment, Schneep felt an uncomfortable shiver of disappointment. In himself, in that he somehow wasn’t able to see that Chase wasn’t going to just be alright. He immediately squashed that feeling. He caught it eventually, didn’t he? Schneep sighed, then grabbed Chase’s arm, finding the vein in the crook of the elbow and pressing the syringe’s needle into it.

Jackie watched the entire short procedure with baited breath, unable to stop playing with the ends of his hair. Schneep stepped away, and Jackie continued to watch. After a minute, he looked over to Schneep and asked “That’s it?”

“Well, it will take a while to set in,” Schneep explained, putting the syringe back into the Velcro bag and sealing it up.

“How long?”

“I do not know, a while.”

“Can you give me an estimate?”

“Maybe a few hours? Until the morning?” Schneep shrugged. “I could try putting another dose into the IV, see if that helps.”

“You know what? Let’s not tamper with the thing keeping him alive,” Jackie said. “Guess we…go to bed now?”

“Ha! Speak for yourself, is never too late to start working.” Schneep shouldered the bag, heading out of the room.

“Henrik, I swear to god, if you stay up until five o’clock again—hey, don’t walk away!” Jackie rushed out the door after Schneep, but stopped in the doorway. He looked over his shoulder back to the bed where Chase was laying. God, he hoped this worked. He hoped one of his best friends wasn’t going to be stuck asleep forever because of some crazy living glitch. After a moment, he resumed following Schneep.

“Don’t you dare go down those stairs!”

“Too late!”

Jackie hopped onto the banister, sliding down it until he reached the first floor, catching up to lost distance with Schneep fairly easily. “You are not working tonight,” he said, rushing to close the distance and grab Schneep on the shoulder. “What if something happens while you’re gone? Also I literally haven’t seen you go to bed before one in like a week.”

“Well, a regular schedule is as important as going early, so I am good!”

“That—is technically true, but—”

They were cut off when another round of yelled swears managed to drift through the floor from the basement. This time, it sounded like more than just frustration.

Schneep looked at Jackie. “We are checking that out?”

“Damn right we are, angry Marvin is never a good Marvin.” Jackie chuckled. “Well, no Marvin is ever good, but you know what I mean. Let’s go.”

* * *

On the other side of the world, in a house whose layout shuffled as it needed, two creatures who looked human but were decidedly not were travelling the halls. The one leading the way wore a dark suit and seemed to leech the color from the surrounding air, while the other’s half-tangible form jumped and distorted and glitched. “I’m not quite sure what it means,” the dark one said. “But I know it’s important.”

“Very specific. Wonderful job. 10/10 on the mystery, 0/10 on being actually useful,” the glitch muttered.

“Anti, please.” Dark rubbed the side of his head, like a headache was forming there. “I don’t think you understand the enormity of the situation. The House doesn’t ask to see people. People see them, not the other way around.”

“Because it’s a mirror.” Anti laughed.

“What are you—” Dark stopped for a moment. “Oh I see. Clever pun. Anyway.” He resumed walking.

“This is about me, right?” Anti asked, glitching forward to be on even footing with Dark. “Not about Jack or Sam.”

“It may affect your host, I don’t know. But I don’t believe it’s ‘about’ him.”

They turned a corner, and all of a sudden were standing in a wide room with white walls, the ceiling dangling a chandelier over their heads, a balcony encircling the room with one section of the railing a bit broken compared to the others. There was a large mirror hanging on one of the walls. Dark quickly approached it, with Anti not far behind.

“Huh. That’s odd,” Dark muttered.

“The reflection?”

“Yes. Or lack thereof.” The mirror reflected the room accurately, but not so much the two standing before it. Dark’s reflection was ringed with red and blue that wasn’t seen around him in reality, and the light seemed to shy away from it. Anti had no reflection at all. “I’ve never seen anyone without one.”

“Well, obviously, this isn’t a normal mirror.” Anti rolled his eye. “So what’s the rule of showing up in it?”

Dark clasped his arms behind his back. “It supposedly reflects the true nature of your soul.”

“Oh. That explains it.” Anti cracked a smile. “I don’t have one.”

Dark looked at him oddly for a moment before shaking his head. “Every time I see you, every time something new is revealed about you, you become stranger.”

“I could say the same for you. Oh look. Something’s happening.”

It looked like something was moving inside the glass. A shadowy hint of a something that moved closer, until you could _almost_ see it. The shape of a person, a person who might’ve once had more defining features, but over time has turned to this shadowy hint. The person pressed a hand to the glass.

“They say we’re early,” Dark said.

“Early? So this is time-sensitive?”

Dark checked the watch on his wrist. “It seems so.”

Anti sighed. “If this has anything to do with that seer dude or your pink friend—”

“You won’t do anything about it,“ Dark interrupted.

Anti glared at him, then glitched over to the nearest wall to lean against it, where he proceeded to mumble about being willing to stab Dark’s pink friend because it wouldn’t do anything. Dark heard, but did not respond, and simply waited.

* * *

When Jackie and Schneep exited the staircase and entered the basement, they were met with an unusual sight. The door at the far end of the hall, which was normally kept closed, was now wide open, showing a gaping empty staircase leading even farther down into darkness. Marvin had apparently forgotten to close it, maybe because he was too busy with the situation in the middle of the hall. Puddles of pale, pastel-colored liquid, with the consistency of cream, were dotting the floor, gathering in the middle. Marvin himself had that same liquid covering his arms, shirt front, and parts of his cape. Jameson was futilely trying to help Marvin clean himself up, mainly by handing him handkerchiefs which seemed to come from an endless supply in his pocket. {Be careful, there’s broken glass,} he projected, not looking at the two newcomers to the scene.

Jackie glanced at Schneep, Schneep glanced back, and in unison the two of them asked, “What happened?”

“Disaster!” Marvin yelled. “The worst possible thing! Fucking months, even years of work just gone! Fucking, oh look, here I go, thinking nothing will go wrong, psych! I drop most of it and it all fucking breaks!”

“What…is this stuff?” Jackie walked over to the nearest puddle and barely splashed it with the toe of his boot.

“Soul essence,” Marvin said calmly.

Jackie blinked. “I’m sorry, what?”

“Also known as soul extract.” Marvin waved his hand around, causing drops of milky liquid to go flying. “Because in order to get, like, really good soul essence you have to extract it from a living soul. I mean, yeah, you can also get it from something that someone’s carried around or worn a lot, that’s called taglocking. But it’s a lot better if you can get it straight from the soul.”

“Can we back up to the part where souls exist?” Schneep asked, sounding almost timid.

“If it helps you at all, nobody understands what the fuck a soul really is. My best guess is it’s something like Undertale, where the soul is the culmination of your being. But what do I know?” Marvin sighed, anger soon turning it into a groan. “I’m going to have to do so much to make this up.”

{Perhaps you shouldn’t have carried up all of it,} Jameson suggested, handing Marvin yet another handkerchief. {Only the one you needed.}

“Well, I’ve been planning on moving them out of the basement’s basement for a long time, and I finally got the motivation to do so when I realized I could do this thing. Oh the thing!” Marvin looked down at the ground, then bent over and scooped a few things out of the puddles of soul essence. “Oh thank god, the one I need is still intact. And a few others, too. Nice.” Marvin grinned. 

Jackie blinked. “What…what is going on.”

“Well…” Marvin’s grin widened. “I thought of a way that we could maybe _finally_ track down our Jackaboy friend.”

“…oh.” Jackie couldn’t think of what else to say. He’d spent so long stalling, and now, Marvin could just…find him? He glanced over at Schneep, trying to see if he understood what this meant, but Schneep didn’t look back. Jackie really hoped that was an attempt to avoid suspicion and not because Schneep had changed his mind about the plan. “How’re you going to do that?”

“Well, I’m gonna do the spell right now. Come on, come on.” Marvin, now mostly clean of liquid soul essence, carefully stepped around the puddles and vanished into the library. Jameson followed him, looked back to make sure Jackie and Schneep were following as well, then also disappeared through the door.

The library looked considerably more disorganized than it had yesterday. Whole bookshelves had been pushed out of position, probably by whatever explosion had happened earlier, and loose books and papers were everywhere. Marvin made his way over to a relatively untouched desk, where he carefully placed the items he’d retrieved from the soul essence disaster: four long, narrow glass containers resembling test tubes, each one topped off with a cork and containing a different pastel-colored liquid that was clearly more essence. The other three gathered around the desk as Marvin pulled open a drawer and removed a glass orb full of smoke that soon changed color: the soul seeker.

“Alright. So. I found this book—” Marvin tapped the closed cover of a book sitting on the desk “—about soul magic, and ways you can try to use it if you don’t have a natural gift for it. You need a lot of tools, but one of the simpler things you can do is a tracking spell. It only requires a soul seeker.” A smile flashed across his face. “I actually forgot I read this until Jackie got me the scaler tonight, thanks for that.”

Jackie was so surprised by Marvin thanking him for something that he forgot to say anything back.

“But the thing is, you can’t just use the seeker itself. The seeker needs to have known the soul of the person you’re looking for. Which normally means it can only track people who’ve touched it, and obviously our Jack has never touched it, so I was at a loss until I remembered this.” Marvin picked up one of the glass tubes, holding it up to the light. The essence inside glinted a pale green, like someone poured food coloring into a gallon of milk.

Schneep inhaled, a reverse gasp. “That’s…?”

“It is.” Marvin began pulling at the glass tube’s cork. “Taken straight from Jack’s soul itself, about a year ago. Luckily essence doesn’t expire. And luckily he never remembered that happening.” The cork popped loose. “Now…let’s just…” He began tilting the tube, slowly, just slowly enough…

Jackie sneezed, bumping the table. Marvin shrieked as almost half the essence spilled out of the glass tube. His eyes latched onto Jackie, who immediately began backing away. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”

“You’re not sorry yet!” Marvin hissed.

{Wait, look!} Jameson pointed towards the soul seeker. Despite the jolt in the table, some of the essence had managed to land on it. The mist inside the seeker was swirling, condensing, until it suddenly burst into a series of condensed green light, which flared outward in a display greater than any fireworks.

Marvin’s expression changed from anger to delight on the flip of a dime. “Oh thank god. Okay, now the seeker has known the soul, which just means…” He began flipping through the pages of the book. “I just need to start the spell. And we can find him.” He laughed. “We can _find_ him. Finally.”

Jackie looked over at Schneep again, and this time he caught his eye. He tried to convey his worry about the spell, about them actually finding Jack. What could they do to stop it now? Schneep glanced over at the soul seeker, then back at Jackie, and shrugged. As if to say they couldn’t stop it now. Jackie glared, and Schneep shook his head subtly. They’d have to wait, see what would happen next and then make their move.

Jackie sighed, silently, and looked back to watch the spell in progress.

* * *

“Something’s wrong.”

Anti stood up straight. “Say that again.”

Dark looked over at him. “Something’s **wrong**.” His voice lapsed into an echo on the last word.

“Why are you vague like this?!” Anti glitched over to stand next to Dark, by the mirror.

“Because I don’t know what’s happening! A rare occasion, but nonetheless true!”

“Well find a better way to describe it than—”

The House shook.

Not on this plane. But it shook.

And everything seemed to happen at once. All sound was drowned out by a high-pitched sound, like the ringing in your ears. The room filled with shadows as color drained from the world, concentrating on only a few points. Dark was overlapped in red and blue, while Anti’s form fell apart into a green shadow of a person. The figure in the mirror shifted through browns and grays and blacks, and began banging their fists against the glass. And somehow, despite the steadiness of the ringing, ringing, ringing, it was so incredibly _noisy._

And then the mirror cracked with a sound like a gunshot.

Everything righted itself with a snap. Anti and Dark stumbled at the sudden change as color rushed back into place. Sound resumed its normal course, leaving behind a sudden quiet in the wake of the ringing.

Anti shook his head. “W͠ha͢t w̷as͝ ̢t͟hat̢?”

Dark approached the mirror. He ran his hand along the long crack. The figure in the glass reflected his movements from inside. “That was **someone** who **shouldn’t be here** trying to **get inside** ,”he replied. “I’m not sure who…but if the House has called you here, perhaps you would know.”

Anti turned back to the mirror. He thought he did…but just to make sure. He reached forward and stuck his fingers in between the cracks of glass. When he pulled them out, purple sparks briefly danced around them before fading away. His expression darkened. “I know e̢x͏a͡c͢tly͡ who this was.” His head suddenly whipped toward Dark so quickly that it didn’t even turn, there was merely a glitch and then suddenly he was looking at him. “Did they get through?”

Dark’s lips curled into a humorless smile. The figure in the mirror seemed to shake…with laughter? “No, they did not. The House is **very** well-defended.” His smile dropped. “But they got close.” His eyes flickered over the mirror. “This crack will heal within three days. But if they try again before then, they might slip through it.”

“Then I can’t waste time.” Anti took a step back. “It has to happen now.”

Dark looked at him, black eyes like pools of water. “You’ll be leaving, then?”

“Only for a little bit. I’ll be back.”

“If you ever need help…” Dark let the statement hang in the air.

Anti chuckled. “Thanks. I’ll keep that in mind. But I’m not sure you want to be involved in this. It’s our mess to clean up.”

“If you insist.” Dark nodded. “Good luck.”

“And to you too.” Anti grinned, and he slowly dissolved into pixels. The last thing to go was his smile.

* * *

“I was so close!”

“Marvin, you are—”

“So _fucking_ close!” 

The book hit the nearest wall with a _thwak!_ Pages flew loose from its binding. Marvin didn’t care. “I could fucking feel it! I could feel him, it was _right there!_ And something blocked me!” Sparks were practically flying as his eyes lit up bright purple, and drops of magic hissed around his hands. “Oh, they think they can get away with that, don’t they? They think they’re safe? Well they’re wrong, and I am going to prove it if its the last fucking thing I do!”

“Marvin!” Schneep snapped. “You are bleeding!”

That sliced through the layer of rage Marvin had built around himself. He reached up, and felt warm red dripping from his nose. It was only then that he noticed the pounding headache, and the sudden rough itching in the back of his throat. “That…doesn’t matter,” he said, turning his attention to the soul seeker. “I have to find him.”

{I don’t think you’ll be able to, in this condition,} Jameson said. He walked around the desk and put a hand on Marvin’s shoulder. Jackie and Schneep instinctively stiffened, but Marvin didn’t seem to mind the contact. {Don’t think I don’t know the symptoms of exhaustion when I see them. If you’ve reached the nose bleeding stage, then things are starting to get serious. If you try a spell of that magnitude again, you’re going to end up hurting yourself before you can finish it.}

Marvin’s eyes remained locked on the seeker. “I was so close…he’s somewhere with powerful wards, it…it almost felt alive…”

{Well, you’ll need all your strength to break through that, then, won’t you?} Jameson pointed out. {Marvin. Try again tomorrow. We’ve waited this long, one more day is nothing.}

“Maybe for you, Mr. Hundred Years,” Marvin muttered, rubbing his eyes with one hand. “Mmmn. Fine. I’ll try again tomorrow.”

{That’s the spirit!} Jameson said cheerfully. {Now, you should really be going to bed. Rest will help.}

“Fine, fine. Let’s go.” Marvin stretched, arching his back, then rolled the soul seeker off the desk and into the desk drawer. He then placed the four glass tubes of soul essence in there as well, shutting it tight. Something in the desk clicked. He gave one last look around the room, during which Schneep and Jackie didn’t dare say anything, before walking out of the library, Jameson close behind.

Once they were gone, Jackie sighed and leaned all his weight onto the desk. “Fuck, dude, that was close.”

Schneep bit his lip. “We need to figure out what to do once they know where Jack is.”

“Well, can’t we just…?” Jackie reached over to the desk drawer, attempting to jiggle it open. But it was locked. “Okay, we can’t. I was thinking we could get rid of the rest of the essence and/or the soul orb thing.”

“It was a good idea,” Schneep said encouragingly.

“Yeah, well. Not good enough. I…I don’t know what to do.” His voice sounded small with the admission.

“We will figure it out. If we have to stay up all night to.”

“I hope we don’t have to. I’m…tired.”

“Well, we can go to your room, at least. And talk there?” Schneep suggested.

“Yeah…yeah, let’s do that.” Jackie straightened. “It’s a start. C’mon.”

Two flights of stairs later, Jackie and Schneep were up by the bedrooms once again. Marvin and Jameson had apparently already gone to bed, as evident by their shut doors. But in noticing the shut doors, Jackie noticed another door that was open. He suddenly gripped Schneep’s arm. “Is that…?”

Schneep looked at him, then looked back at the open door. “Let’s go see.”

They walked slowly toward the end of the hall, almost hesitant to look through the open door into the room. But look they did. And they saw the bed was empty, and the man who had been asleep in it for so long was now standing at the window, blinking at the world outside.

Schneep gasped. “Chase?”

Chase jumped, and turned around, eyes wide. After a moment, he raised a hand and waved.

Jackie couldn’t help it. “Chase!” He ran straight into the room and threw himself at Chase, wrapping his arms around him with such force that Chase nearly fell over. Schneep was a bit more subdued, but he didn’t skip the hugging either. Jackie babbled away. “Oh my god, Chase, we were so worried, we couldn’t wake you up, and Marvin’s magic wasn’t helping, though I don’t know if he was trying, or really Jameson either, and oh my god so much has happened you won’t believe it—”

Chase laughed a bit. “You guys are suffocating me. Back up? Please?”

They did let go. “Chase, I…this is amazing!” Schneep grinned. “Did it work? I think it did! You are awake!”

“Uh, yeah, I’m awake.” Chase looked back and forth between their faces. “What did I miss?”

* * *

It was later that night, though not much later, that Jameson was woken up by the text notification on his phone. For a moment, he wondered if he imagined it, but figured that something must have woken him. He reached over and fumbled around his nightstand in the dark before finding his phone. He opened it to see a single message received from an unknown sender.

The message read, **Do i̡t̶ n͢o͏w̶.**

Jameson paled. He looked around the room, as if trying to find a phantom lurking in the corner, or a camera spying from above. There was nothing.

But that didn’t mean nobody was watching.

He covered his mouth with his hand, taking a few deep breaths. There really wasn’t another way, was there? Still, it took him a while to compose himself before he could reply.

Then he stood up, careful not to disturb his sleeping roommate, and left.

There was work to be done.


	23. Turning Point of No Return

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It seems like everything's going well for Jackie. Chase is awake, and Marvin and Jameson are none the wiser as to his actual intentions. Or...are they? Almost like it was planned, everything goes into a downward spiral at once.

Marvin woke up and was immediately sore. He groaned, squeezed his eyes shut, and buried his face in his pillow, but then something sharp dug into his face. Did he sleep in his mask again? God, he had to stop doing this. He pulled one hand out from the tangle of blankets, undid the straps, and threw the mask at the nightstand. It clattered off the clock and onto the floor. Marvin glared at the offending clock; it read 9:18am. Early for him. Why was he awake? Did he have a thing to do today?

He sat up all of a sudden. “Fuck,” he muttered, remembering the night before. They’d gotten so close—so close!—to finding Jack, only for his own stupid limits to stop them. Marvin realized he was grinding his teeth in frustration. God, it had been so long since he hit a wall. But now he could try again, after sleeping for a bit. Surely he would have enough energy now.

But first, to get ready. Marvin rolled out of bed, grabbed his mask, and put it back on before heading to the bathroom.

Marvin had a very specific routine to follow before he could even begin to think about starting the day. He took a shower, got dressed, dried and brushed his hair, then had something to eat. Soon, he was heading downstairs to the kitchen for that last step. Upon entering the kitchen, he saw a familiar face sitting at the table. “Hey, Jameson,” he said.

Jameson blinked at him, head resting in one hand. {Hello, Marvin. You’re up early.}

“I want to get started on the…thing.” Marvin wasn’t sure he was fully awake. He walked over to the cupboard and pulled out a loaf of bread, preparing for toast. “ _You_ look tired.”

{I didn’t sleep well last night,} Jameson explained. As if on cue, he yawned. {You remember what happened?}

“Hm? Oh yeah.” Marvin vaguely recalled Jameson shaking him awake only shortly after he fell asleep, telling him that Chase had finally woken up. Marvin then mumbled some fuzzy sort of reply before instantly falling asleep again. “That’s great. Now Jackie’ll stop bothering me about finding a spell to wake him up.”

Jameson smiled. {Indeed.}

Marvin put the bread in the toaster, standing by and waiting impatiently, fingers drumming a pattern on the counter.

{It’s not going to go any faster if you watch it,} Jameson remarked.

“I know. I’m just…I really want to try the thing again.”

{I see. I’m assuming that by “the thing” you mean the tracking spell?}

“What else would I be talking about?”

{True.} Jameson straightened, standing up. {Well, this is a good time to do it. I’m not sure if Jackie’s still awake, but if he is, he’s going to be too busy with Chase to do anything.}

Marvin stilled. “Why would I be worried about Jackie?”

Jameson looked mildly surprised. {You mean you don’t know?}

“Don’t know what?” Marvin’s voice lowered dangerously.

{Well…} Jameson straightened his tie. {You remember how last night Jackie bumped the table, causing you to spill the soul essence and almost mess up the spell?} Marvin nodded. {That was on purpose. He was trying to sabotage your attempt.}

“He was trying to _what?!_ ”

{Oh yes, apparently Jackie’s been planning to stop us from finding Jack. For a while now, as well.} Jameson’s mental voice was almost casual. {He’s been stalling and distracting our efforts. Honestly he would’ve gotten away with it if I hadn’t decided to…check on him, mentally, a few days ago. He was practically screaming with nerves.}

Marvin’s vision had gone violet. “And you didn’t tell me because…?”

{Well, I assumed you figured it out as well. I was actually admiring your restraint.} Jameson sighed silently. {Though I can see now that maybe that was a misjudgment on my part. You having restraint, I mean.}

Marvin closed his eyes, digging his palms into his face. He took several deep breaths. “I’m going to…deal with that later,” Marvin said through teeth. “Right now, I’m going to do the spell, we’ll find where Jack is, and then I can kill Jackie later.”

{Do you mean that literally?}

“I don’t know.”

{Well, good luck with that,} Jameson said helpfully. {The spell, I mean. I’d watch, but I have a prior engagement in town.}

“Cool. Have fun. I’m going to get this over with.” Marvin turned on his heel to leave the kitchen, hesitated, then swiveled back around and grabbed the toast that had just popped up, stuffing it in his mouth as he stormed out.

Jackie, Jackie, Jackie…what to do about him? Marvin would be lying if he said he’d never considered getting rid of him before. But it had never really been worth the effort, and Jameson had made it clear that there would be no permanent damage done to the others if he wanted him to stay and work his mentalist magic. But this was different. For one thing, if he was interpreting Jameson’s reaction right, then there was a possibility the rule about no permanent damage was rescinded. And for another, did Jackie not understand the urgency of finding Jack? Jack could decide to report them to the authorities at any moment. Eyewitness testimony, combined with footage from those cameras the glitch had _apparently_ placed around the house? There wouldn’t even be a case for them.

By the time Marvin entered the library, he’d decided to…well, decide later what he would do. The spell was more important. Besides, what could Jackie do once they actually found Jack?

He headed straight to the desk where he was keeping the soul seeker, already mentally running through the spellwords. He pressed his hand against the drawer, letting the lock spell recognize his magic so it would release. After hearing the distinct click of release, Marvin pulled the drawer open.

It was empty.

Marvin could only stare at the space where, just last night, the soul seeker and all the soul essence had been securely stored. How? It was impossible for anyone but him to open this drawer! How could it be gone?!

His blood ran very cold, only to boil the next moment. He slammed the drawer close so hard that it rebounded open again. He didn’t know how it happened, but he knew _who_ was behind it. Even if Jameson hadn’t told him just now, he would’ve suspected. But now, knowing that he was _actively_ against the plan, he was certain. Marvin opened his mouth and screamed. “ _JACKIE!!_ ”

* * *

“We should go to bed,” Jackie muttered, rubbing his eyes.

“Probably,” Schneep said.

“‘Probably’? There’s no ‘probably,’ it’s almost nine-thirty in the morning, and none of us have slept in, like, a day.”

“Speak for yourself,” Chase muttered.

The three of them were in Jackie’s room, as they had been all night. Schneep was standing by the window, Chase was idly spinning in the desk chair, and Jackie was sitting cross-legged on the bottom bunk bed, still in his super suit. Jackie could feel the long night starting to wear on his eyes, drawing them downward.

“Okay, maybe it hasn’t been a day for you,” Jackie relented. “But still. We’ve been up so long, we should sleep.”

“I’m not tired,” Chase said blandly.

Schneep looked at him. “Chase, I can understand how you would not want to fall asleep again, but you really should. It is best for your body to return to its natural rhythms.”

“Y’know, there’s nothing natural about going to bed at nine o’clock a.m.,” Chase chuckled.

“Ah! Does not matter!” Schneep waved his hand. “The point is that you sleep on your own, in a normal sleep, instead of being stuck there.”

“Yes, Chase, listen to the doctor,” Jackie said.

“We all know he doesn’t have a degree,” Chase said.

Schneep’s eyes widened, and he stepped back. “Chase, I think you are confused—”

“Nah, bro, I think you are.” Chase shrugged. “But I’m not entirely sure I blame you for that.”

Jackie gave Chase an odd look. He’d been…quiet…all night. When he spoke, there wasn’t a lot of personality to his voice, it was mostly monotone. Flat. It was worrying…but Jackie had to believe this was just temporary, him readjusting to the waking world after…whatever the glitch did to him. Jackie was about to comment on Chase’s tone, ask him if he was alright, when he paused, hearing footsteps. All of a sudden, the hairs on the back of his neck were standing up. “Hey, do you guys feel—”

The door to his room flew open. Jackie shot to his feet, instantly on edge. Marvin was standing in the doorway. His eyes glowed purple, magic consuming the blue irises easily. Violet light dripped from his hands and wound around his body, his cape flaring out behind him. The expression on his face was positively murderous.

“Whoa, what’s going on?” Jackie began backing away. Chase stood up, and Schneep discreetly stepped in front of him.

Marvin growled, a strange hiss following his voice. “I don’t know, Jackie, why don’t you tell me?!” The purple light gathered into a dripping ball, and suddenly it was flying at Jackie’s head.

“What?!” Jackie ducked just in time, the ball of magic splattering against the wall. Droplets flew loose, stinging Jackie’s arm, and he quickly scrambled out of the way. “What did I do?!”

“How long were you planning on keeping this going?!” Another sphere of magic flew. Schneep and Chase ducked for cover. “How long were you planning on going behind our fucking backs?! Did you really think we wouldn’t find out?!” Marvin laughed, a manic sound that echoed unnaturally. “Well if you did, you were wrong!”

Jackie’s insides turned to ice. “Shit,” he whispered, the sound barely audible. His eyes darted toward the room’s window a split second before he bolted toward it.

“Oh no you don’t!” A burst of smoke, and suddenly Marvin was standing in front of the window. Jackie tried to stop, but his reflexes weren’t as quick as they usually were, and he ran right into Marvin. Before he could back away again, Marvin had wrapped his hands around his wrists. Jackie cried out—this was worse than burning, this was _melting._ Acting on instinct, Jackie kicked Marvin in the stomach, startling him enough for him to let go. He scrambled backward and turned around, almost tripping over the nightstand, heading toward the open door.

“Alik y nah’men!”

A coil of violet light wrapped around Jackie’s ankles, tripping him up just enough for another to shoot forward and wrap around his waist, pulling him backwards. He pushed the coils, twisting away from them, but they just split infinitely into branching tendrils, each one stinging wherever it made contact with him, even through the thick material of his suit.

“Hey, Jackie, come here.” Marvin wrapped an arm around Jackie’s torso. Jackie tilted his head backwards and looked up into a pair of violet vortexes. He was close enough to see the branching scars escaping from under Marvin’s mask. The magician grinned. “ _You’re going to wish you were dead._ ”

Jackie wasn’t sure what he was going to do next, but thankfully he never had to figure it out. Suddenly, Marvin cried out, and let go. Jackie wasted no time in getting away, pressing against the opposite wall. Schneep had grabbed a hold of Marvin’s free arm. A very tight hold, as Marvin had to pry his fingers off. Schneep stumbled backwards, and Marvin stared down at his arm. The sleeve of his shirt hadn’t been rolled up before, but now…

Schneep grinned. He was holding an empty syringe in his hand. “You have five to ten minutes,” he said. “I suggest you are not here when that kicks in.”

Marvin paled, the purple light fading from his eyes. There was a puff of lavender smoke, and then he was gone.

For a moment, Schneep delighted in looking smug. Then his attention turned to Jackie. “Are you okay? What happened? Where does it hurt?”

“…everywhere,” Jackie said. He felt a little out of it. Maybe it was the aftermath of the adrenaline surge, maybe it was the all-nighter, maybe it was both, but he suddenly swayed on his feet and started to list to the side.

“Whoa, hey.” Chase was suddenly by his side, supporting him. “Yeah, uh, I can believe that. Here, you should lie down.” Chase guided him over to the bed, sitting next to him on the edge.

Jackie did not lie down. He looked as Schneep. “What did you…did you inject him with something?”

Schneep threw the syringe on the desk. “Just a simple knockout drug, he should be fine in…anywhere from two hours to five hours.”

Jackie raised an eyebrow. “Do you always carry a syringe of knockout serum with you?”

Schneep looked vaguely surprised. “Of course. Did I not tell you?” He sat down on Jackie’s other side. After a moment, he gently reached over and took Jackie’s hands in his own, turning them over as he examined Jackie’s wrists. Somehow Marvin had burned right through the material of the gloves in places. Or, not burned exactly…the fabric was somehow…dripping. “These look almost like…like acid burns,” Schneep muttered.

“They feel like acid burns,” Jackie hissed. “Don’t touch them.”

“Hey, didn’t Marvin have something that could help those heal?” Chase said. “Or else, like, they’d burn forever?”

“Yeah, I think I remember that,” Jackie nodded. “It’s probably in his room.”

“Is there anything else that hurts, Jackie?” Schneep asked. He looked him over. “Your suit is not broken anywhere else, but damage could still happen underneath.”

“Y-yeah, it was like…shit, like wherever those tentacle things touched it hurt,” Jackie muttered.

Schneep nodded. “Well, we should look it over. Chase, you can go in Marvin’s room and look for the salve he had?”

“Sure.” Chase stood up.

“One more thing.” Jackie made sure he had both their attention. “After this, we’re going to sleep. At least a nap. _All_ of us.”

Chase sighed. “Sure. Fine.”

“I think that would be good, yes,” Schneep agreed absentmindedly.

Jackie closed his eyes. “That’s great. And then when we wake up, we’ll figure out how to deal with…that whole…Marvin thing.”

“We can ask Jameson to talk to him,” Schneep suggested. “He is better at getting on his level.”

Chase’s brow furrowed. “Well, except he left earlier. Neither of you heard him walk past?”

“Great. Who knows when he’ll be back,” Jackie grumbled. “Welp. Thinking about it again, we need someone to keep watch. In case cat magician comes back and is pissed.”

“I’ll do it,” Chase immediately volunteered. When he saw Schneep and Jackie about to protest, he held up a hand for them to wait. “No, listen. You’ve both been awake for more than a day, you admitted it yourself, and I’ve only been awake for…what, nine hours? I can stay awake longer. Fuck natural sleep, this is more important.”

Schneep and Jackie looked at each other, then sighed in unison. “If you must,” Jackie muttered. “But let us know if anything important happens.”

Chase nodded. “Of course.”

* * *

About three and a half hours later, Chase was the only one awake in the house. Schneep and Jackie had conked out as soon as Schneep was done examining the aftermath of Marvin’s attack. That was good, really, they seemed tired. Marvin hadn’t returned, and neither had Jameson. So Chase was alone. Sitting at the table in the kitchen-dining room. Staring intently at a single bottle on the table surface.

He really shouldn’t. The first thing you do when you get out of a coma should not be to revive bad habits. But…god damn it, he was _thinking_ too much. And in the past, thinking had always been bad for him. His thoughts were not his friends, so he tried to push them away or drown them out. But, after two months of having basically nothing to do _but_ think, that had changed…a bit. It all seemed much closer in reality than in dreamland. Hence, the temptation.

But maybe it was better to just sit with these thoughts. To acknowledge them, understand them, and let them go. 

He wasn’t very good at that last step yet.

He was trying, though.

Someone knocked at the door, startling Chase out of his internal debate. He frowned. That couldn’t be Marvin or Jameson, could it? They wouldn’t knock, they’d just come in. After all, they both had keys. But Marvin _had_ sort of teleported away without taking them. Maybe he’d knock. But then why not teleport back inside? Maybe it was a salesman or something.

Another, louder knock. Curiosity got the better of him. Chase pushed his chair back and walked into the other room, staring at the front door with hands on his hips. Another knock, followed by a voice: “Open up, this is the police!”

Oh.

Chase stared at the door for a bit longer, then opened it. On the other side, two uniformed cops were standing on the doorstep, and Chase could see more officers behind them. “What’s up?” he asked.

The taller officer looked down at him. “We have a warrant to search this house, sir.”

“Okay.” Chase stood aside. “Then search the house.”

The pair of cops stepped inside, and more followed, spreading throughout the house. They went into the kitchen, down the hall, up the stairs, spreading out and covering ground. The tallest officer, who seemed to be in charge, said, “This won’t take too long. If there’s nothing illegal in here, you have nothing to worry about.”

“Ma’am, I can assure you, there is a whole bunch of illegal shit in here.”

The officer was visibly surprised by Chase’s words. “Excuse me? A-are you…?”

“Confessing? Well, not to everything.” Chase leaned against the nearest wall and folded his arms. “But you’ll find a handgun in my bedroom. It’s mine. Don’t be fooled by my accent, I’ve lived in this country for years and I know it’s illegal here. Also I’ve killed people. And injured them.”

“…oh.” The leading pair of cops looked at each other. They were obviously, completely, utterly taken aback by Chase’s casual attitude.

“Hey.” Chase glanced towards the ceiling. “Are you gonna arrest the others? Because they’re asleep right now, so, uh. I don’t know what you’d do with that information, but do whatever with it.” He leveled them with a stare. “You two ever taken bribes? Because you don’t want to be _those_ kind of cops here.”

The cops were spared responding to that when the walkie talkie on the officer-in-charge’s belt suddenly squawked. Recovering her composure, the officer grabbed it, picking up the call. “Yes, this is Garcia. Did you find something?” She listened to the indistinct police chatter for a moment. Then she paled. “Repeat that, officer.” More chatter. “That’s a Class C drug, are you sure?” A short, affirmative squawk. “Ah. In that case, gather up all you can. Confiscate it as evidence.”

“I’m not involved in any of that,” Chase said, his voice dull. “I just shoot people.”

The officer—Garcia—gave him an odd look. “That doesn’t make it better.”

“Oh trust me. It does.”

“You know we need to take you in?”

“Yeah. You don’t do the rights reading thing here, do you?”

Sudden shouts came from upstairs. They were followed by several loud thumps, and the sound of something being knocked over. More shouting, and then a few moments later Jackie came running down the stairs, tripping over the last one and landing flat on the floor. He climbed to his feet slowly, wincing. He was still wearing his suit—the one that would identify him to anyone living in the city as the masked vigilante. “Chase!” His eyes locked on his friend. “What’s happening?!”

“They had a warrant,” Chase said, his tone dead.

“Where the shit did they get a warrant?!”

“I dunno. Where do you usually get a warrant?”

Officer Garcia straightened, her eyes locked on Jackie. “Sir, stand down.”

Jackie’s eyes darted from her, to Chase, to the window, to the other officer, to the door, to the stairs, then back to her. And he slumped. There were cops everywhere he looked, out the window, through the door, down the hall, and following him down from upstairs. After an all-nighter followed by the fight with Marvin, he wasn’t in any condition to resist. “Alright, I’ll come quietly,” he said softly. His voice broke in the middle. Then he took a deep breath, and stood up straight. “But, uh, I can’t guarantee he will.”

Confused, Officer Garcia looked at Chase, who raised his hands. “Who do you—”

“Well, it sounds like they’re almost done up there,” Jackie said. The shouting and thumping from upstairs were moving closer to the stairs. And then Schneep appeared at the top. There was a police officer on either side of him, one holding each arm. Of course, that didn’t stop Schneep from kicking and screaming as they dragged him down the stairs. And judging from the trickle of blood coming from his mouth and also one of the cop’s hands, it didn’t stop him from biting either.

“Jackie!” Schneep cried. “What is happening?! I do not understand!”

Jackie’s eyes were puddles, round and wet and somehow sad. “I know you don’t. Look, they found us out. We need to go with them. You should stop…just stop. They might taze you or something.”

“I do not understand!” Schneep repeated. “What did I do wrong?”

“Well,” Officer Garcia jumped in. “Possession of Class C drugs, possession of an illegal firearm, and harboring a criminal, to start with.”

Schneep stared at her blankly. He shook his head.

“Henrik, please just stop,” Jackie whispered.

Maybe there was something in Jackie’s broken tone, but Schneep sighed, and said, “Fine. Fine. Because it is upsetting, I will stop.”

The quiet suburban area had never seen such chaos. The neighbors always thought the group that lived in house 312 was a bit odd, but they never would’ve guessed that the police would one day show up, let alone that many. The cops continued to mill around the house, going through the motions of marking a crime scene. After all, who knew what else was inside? The three men, now bundled together in a cop car, certainly weren’t answering any questions. Even the unusually candid one shut his mouth once the officers began asking about what was in the basement.

On the edge of the crowd of uniformed officers, there were two people dressed in nice brown suit jackets. At first glance, you would think them plainclothes cops. Even if it was a bit unprofessional that one had her hair dyed blue and purple and the other had a tattoo climbing up the side of his neck. But then, if you got close enough to overhear their conversation…

“The whole place just reeks of black magic,” the tattooed one said. “It’s actually amazing.” When his partner didn’t reply, he asked, “You felt it too, right Yvonne?”

Yvonne nodded. “Yeah, it’s just full of it. But those three aren’t magicians. They’re not even witches.”

“How can you tell?”

“Well, just—do they look it, Frederick?”

“That’s a bit unfair.”

“Well. Yes. But you didn’t sense anything from them when you cast the detector, did you?”

Frederick considered this. “No. But the magic inside the house could be camouflaging it. That happens.”

“Then we’ll follow them for a while, cast another detector.” Yvonne sighed. “We’ll find whoever’s behind this. We will.”

Frederick nodded. Then he tensed. “Did you hear that?”

“Hear what?”

The two of them spun around in unison. But there was nothing behind them. Except for a fluffy black cat with four white spots on its forehead, playing around with a discarded soda can on the street.

“Nevermind, it’s just a cat,” Frederick said, turning back around.

“Cute cat, though. A bit feral-looking.” Yvonne watched the police work for a moment. “Follow the car, then? Then report back to Magi?”

“Sounds good. Let’s go.”

The two of them strolled to a parked car nearby. It had no license plate, and no brand anywhere, but it was a nice gold color. They got in, and when the squad car pulled out, they did too.

The cat watched them go with surprisingly intelligent eyes. Once they were out of sight, and out of range of hearing for a cat, the cat strolled away, disappearing into a gap between houses. On the other side of the houses, a man in a black mask and cape emerged from the same gap. He turned back, briefly watching the police that were still hanging around the house, then quickly strolled away.

He wasn’t sure what just happened, but he knew he couldn’t go back. Or at least, not yet. He had to find someone first.

After all, Jameson had been gone all morning. It was only fair to tell him what had happened.

If he didn’t already know.


	24. Heart of Darkness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With everything having gone to hell, Marvin goes to the one person who wasn't there when it all went down. Unfortunately, this works against him.

Jack woke up to the sound of his phone ringing. He immediately buried his face in the pillow. Why was it ringing? He usually kept it on vibrate. Must’ve accidentally switched it on yesterday. His irritation only grew when he looked at the clock. Who was calling him at 6:30 in the morning? Maybe it was a spam number…but maybe it wasn’t, and it was important.

He sighed, then threw a hand out and felt along the nightstand until he found his phone. He looked at the caller ID on the screen—and he could’ve sworn his heart stopped. There was no way he was calling him. There was no way. But he was. Jack listened to the ringing that seemed to draw out the longer he waited. Should…should he answer it? His common sense was telling him no. But…he found himself picking up the call anyway.

“Jack?” Chase’s voice was slightly frantic, as if he was afraid he would hang up at any moment. “Jack, are you there?”

Jack didn’t answer. He just waited, listening to the static between the connection.

“Shit…” Chase spoke softer now. “Alright, you don’t have to say anything. I just had to call. I-I had to…I had to tell you I’m sorry.”

On his end, Jack sat up straight in bed, turning on the lamp.

“What I did was…fuck, it was horrible. The worst thing I could’ve done. I kept telling myself that even if it was wrong—a-and I…I _knew_ it was—that it would all be worth it in the end, that…everything would go back to the way it was, back when everyone was happy.” Chase took a deep breath. “But that’s not an excuse. It’s not, and I need to stop pretending it is. The reason doesn’t matter as much as what actually happened. And what happened was…awful. I wasn’t just a terrible friend, but a terrible person.”

Jack remained quiet. He leaned back against the headboard.

“You don’t have to forgive me. I don’t expect you to. You don’t have to ever talk to me again. In fact, you probably wouldn’t even be able to. I’ve, uh, been arrested.” Chase laughed, a sound of pure anxiety mixed with the absurd. “But…I just had to apologize. For what it’s worth, even if it’s worth nothing to you.”

Chase didn’t have anything more to say, falling silent, waiting. Jack listened to the crackle of static. Then he took a deep breath. “Thank you, Chase.”

“Y-yeah.” There was something like relief in his voice. Like letting out a sigh you’d been holding waiting for the worst news, and receiving mere bad news in return. “Thank _you._ I…I’m really sorry.”

“I know.” He did. “Good luck.”

“…you too.” A pause. “Goodbye, Jack.”

“Goodbye, Chase.” And he ended the call.

For a moment, Jack stared at nothing, not seeing the surroundings of his room, dimly lit by the early morning light filtering through closed blinds. Then a spot at the foot of the bed tensed, like a mirage in the desert, until pixels appeared and grouped together into a solidity. “Did you hear that?” Jack asked.

“Yeah. I was listening. Just in case.” Anti tilted his head. His eye softened a bit. “What are you thinking about?”

Jack sighed, and looked at Anti. “I…I want to go home. Soon, I mean.”

Anti blinked. “Okay.”

“Do you think it’s safe?”

“Safer than it has been. I’ve been…keeping up to date on the situation. Chase wasn’t the only one arrested. So were Jackie and the doctor, and the other two are…scattered.”

Jack looked away again. “I…think it would be safe to wait a bit longer. Just to see how that ends.”

“It’s your decision.”

“I know.” Jack nodded. “I know. Thank you. I’m gonna go back to sleep now.”

“Sleep well, Jack.” And Anti disappeared.

And Jack did. Because even though there were still many loose threads left hanging, one had finally found its place.

* * *

“Jesus christ, if you’re just going to repeat shit I already know back at me, you might as well throw me in jail right now, it would be more bearable!”

The police officer—Garcia, the same one from the original search—was unphased by Jackie’s sudden outburst. In fact, her calm stillness could almost be considered miraculous, when the sudden shout had been preceded by Jackie slamming his hands on the table several times. “Sir, it’s a legal matter. Your friend has already confessed to aiding you in addition to his own crimes, but we need to know what you were involved in that he wasn’t.”

“Wait, which one confessed to that?” Jackie asked, confused.

Garcia raised her eyebrow. “You mean both of them were involved?”

Jackie winced perceptively, shifting in his chair. At this point he’d given up on protecting himself. He’d always known that if the police ever found him, he’d be pretty much screwed, given how much video evidence there was of him running around in a black-and-red suit, doing various illegal activities. But he could help the other two. If they would only _let him and stop being idiots._ “I…uh…“

“I see.” Garcia glanced toward the one-way window. Jackie had no doubt that there was at least one other cop on the other side, watching this interrogation go down. “I hope you realize that, at this point, pleading guilty to other crimes won’t add anything to your sentence. Because given what we’ve already found out, you’ve all earned life sentences.”

“If some dirty judge doesn’t reduce that to lighten the workload for them and their buddies,” Jackie muttered. Then his head whipped up as he caught up on the specifics. “Wait, all of us? All three?”

“That’s what I sa—whoa, hey, back up!” Garcia pushed her chair backwards as Jackie suddenly leaned across the table toward her.

“Look, you can lock me up. You can even lock Chase up, though I really don’t think he deserves it. But you _cannot_ throw Henrik in prison.”

Garcia recovered, relaxing only a bit, still wary. “And why not!”

“He doesn’t even know where he is half the time!” Jackie whisper-shouted, eyes wide. “He talks to people in his head! Whatever he does, he can’t even—he doesn’t understand why anything he does is illegal. He needs help, not isolation.”

“Well a lot of other people also struggle with those things and manage not to chop up three people each month,” Garcia remarked dryly.

“I don’t think his rate was _that_ high,” Jackie said, leaning back. “Look, if you have to keep him away from other people, then put him in a mental hospital or something. Don’t throw him in prison.”

Garcia pursed her lips. “That’s not up to me. It’s really up to whatever lawyer the court appoints him, as well as the judge.” She shook her head. “I find it ironic that you, of all people, are defending someone.”

The words were muttered, but Jackie heard her anyway. He stiffened. “Excuse me?”

“Oh…nothing.” Garcia folded her arms, the picture of authority. “Just with the amount of bodies you’ve left on the street, dead or nearly dead, you don’t seem the type.”

Jackie’s eyes flashed, but he leaned back in his chair and folded his arms in a mirror image. “Tell me. You’re a cop. How many times have you been offered a bribe? Actually, don’t tell me. I know. It’s too many times, isn’t it? You’re one of the better ones, so I bet you turn them down. Or did you use to accept them before realizing how your actions were endangering the citizens, leaving more gangs on the street to attack them? You’ve been threatened with being fired, haven’t you?”

He nodded when he saw Garcia’s eyes widen. 

“Because guess what?” He continued. “The higher ups are all on various payrolls, too weak to turn down easy cash, even if it means murderers go loose. They know the good ones can threaten their secondary income.” He leaned forward once more. “You’ve been out on the streets at night? You notice the ruin everywhere, the way anyone out that late runs home because they know they could get caught up in a firefight at any minute? Guess what, officer? This city is fucking hell. Criminals can do whatever the fuck they want because nobody will stop them. So if I have to kill the guilty to let the innocent live, then so be it.”

“If you kill a killer, the number of killers in the world stay the same,” Garcia said softly.

“Wow, nice Batman quote,” Jackie said bitterly. “Kill two.”

Garcia pushed her chair back and stood up. “We’re not done here. You’re going to explain everything we found in the house.”

“I…honestly can’t do that,” Jackie admitted. “Anything lower than the first floor is a mystery to me.”

“Your friends said the same. But one of you will tell us sooner or later.”

“Did you count the number of bedrooms, you massive dumbass?” Jackie drawled. “It wasn’t just us.”

Garcia’s brows lowered. “We only received word about you three.”

“Wait, you…what?” Jackie straightened. “You got a…did you get a tip?”

“Yes.”

“From a blonde woman?”

“Well, no, her hair was brown. And technically she was only a messenger, delivered a typed note…” Garcia shook her head. “I shouldn’t have told you that. I’ll be back. Don’t go anywhere.” And with that, she left the room.

Jackie was left to sit and wonder. Who could’ve known about them? And who would go to the police?

* * *

Marvin wasn’t a fan of walking around in broad daylight. He stood out in his mask and cape; the latter he could go without, but he absolutely would not leave the former behind. Usually if he had to go out around this time he preferred to go out as a cat, but after the events of earlier, he thought it would be best to save his energy for the transformation spell. Just in case he needed it.

Luckily, this area of town was mostly empty. It wasn’t usually, so Marvin thanked whatever force controlled the universe for that. He still felt exposed, though, and his eyes kept darting back and forth. Until he finally reached the building he was looking for.

He entered with no trouble, not even bothering to look at the person sitting at the desk, walking straight down the hall until he reached the office at the end. He threw the door open. “Jameson! You’re not going to believe this!”

Jameson startled so hard that he fumbled and dropped his book. He leaned out of his desk chair to pick it up, straightening and brushing his vest. {Marvin! What are you doing here?}

“You’re not going to believe this!” Marvin repeated. “The police!”

{What about them?}

“They showed up at the house!”

{Oh goodness.} Jameson marked his place in the book and set it aside. {That’s inconvenient.}

“Well guess what? It gets worse!” Marvin pulled over a chair, sprawling across it. “I showed up as they were arresting the others. But there were two ABIM agents there.”

Jameson did a good job of looking surprised. {Are you sure?}

“I heard them talking, yes I’m sure. They said the house reeked of black magic, but weren’t sure why.” Marvin scowled. “Can’t believe this. All my shit is there. They’re going to confiscate all my shit. That’s, like, that’s _mine_.”

{I see.} Jameson leaned on the desk, steepling his fingers. {Well, I suppose you could try to get it back.}

“I could,” Marvin said, considering. “But the thing is they’re going to be hanging around, watching the house for who knows how long. I won’t have the opportunity to.” He groaned, closing his eyes tight. He could feel wet gathering in his eyes. Nope. Stop. This wasn’t worth it.

{That is true,} Jameson admitted. {Well, if you can’t go to the house, where are you going to stay?}

Marvin opened his eyes again. “That is…a good question. I’d rent a hotel room, but, you know, instant noticability, having a guy in a black mask and/or suspicious face scars check in to your hotel.”

{”Noticability” isn’t a word, but I understand.} Jameson turned his desk chair to the side and stood up. {Well, I suppose you could stay here. I have a small apartment on the second floor. I haven’t been using it lately, but it’s furnished and the electricity and water still work. We could both stay here while the police and the ABIM are investigating the house.}

“That sounds good,” Marvin said, nodding.

{Wonderful.} Jameson walked around the desk. {Well, if that’s decided, then I need to make some preparations. If you’ll excuse me…}

“Oh, yeah, of course. I’ll wait here.”

{Thank you. I’ll be back soon.} And with that, Jameson left the office.

It only took one minute for Marvin to start feeling restless. He sometimes couldn’t believe how people could just sit there, without doing anything. His hands always had to be moving. And so move they did. First by toying with the carvings on the wooden part of his chair, then by picking up every item on the desk, turning it over, and running his fingers over each surface before putting it down again. He even flicked the desk lamp on and off a few times before deciding he’d examined everything on the desk top. So instead, he stood up and started to explore the room, beginning with the other side of the desk.

He didn’t even really think the drawers would open. Didn’t people lock them? Yet when he pulled the handle of one, it rolled right out, much to his surprise. It was full of a bunch of files and folders, so he immediately rolled it shut again. Then he started to wonder. They wouldn’t _all_ open, would they? Well, might as well test it. He reached for another drawer, one closer to the top of the desk, and pulled its handle. It slid open, accompanied by the sound of things rolling around. He idly looked inside.

He froze, staring wide-eyed at the contents. There was no way…Jackie had stolen it. Hadn’t he? Or…had he just assumed…

{Marvin?}

Marvin looked up at Jameson, who’d reentered the room. He had stopped short once he’d seen Marvin snooping in his desk, posture tense. Marvin could only ask one thing, “Why do you have my soul seeker, Jameson?”

Jameson sighed. {Marvin, I knew you would think this way, but it’s not yours—}

“You mean it’s not the same one I almost used to track down Jack but then it went missing this morning? I think it is.” He snatched it up, then sent his other hand searching deeper into the drawer.

{What are you—}

“I knew it!” Marvin pulled out four glass test tubes, each filled with a milky, pastel-colored liquid. “Now _this_ is definitely mine. My soul essence. Why do you have it?” Marvin suddenly stiffened. He slowly set the seeker and the soul essence down on the desk, then looked up at Jameson. “Why did you leave this morning?” he asked in a low voice.

Jameson frowned. {Marvin, I often have business in the morning. You know my…workforce requires monitoring. I think you’re overreac—}

“You left immediately after telling me Jackie was going behind our backs,” Marvin recalled. “And then you asked me if I was going to kill him, like you knew you’d just said something that would cause a scene and didn’t care. And then you still hadn’t come back later, when the police where at the house. Otherwise, you would’ve been arrested too. Or if you’d ‘convinced’ them not to arrest you, you would at least be nearby.” Marvin stood up. “Jameson, how did they even know to investigate that building? There were too many cops for something like a noise complaint or a small crime. And how did the ABIM know to investigate?” His eyes flashed purple, like a cat’s caught in a flashlight. “You told them. You _told_ them, didn’t you? Didn’t you?!”

Jameson’s expression was unreadable. Then again, most expressions were unreadable to Marvin, he wasn’t too good with them. But he had noticed when Jameson had tensed his shoulders, and how he hadn’t released that tension yet. After a too long moment, Jameson exhaled slowly. {Marvin, if you would allow me time to explain—}

“You fucking did!” Marvin grabbed the desk lamp and threw it at Jameson, who barely stepped out of the way in time. “How could you?! Everything I had was there! I’ve managed to hide from the ABIM for two fucking years and you just ruined that! And for what?!” Violet light was starting to drip from his hands in sticky strands.

{If you would let me explain!} Jameson repeated, raising his hands. {Look, you can do whatever you want afterward, but just allow me a few minutes.}

Marvin froze, staring at Jameson, drops of purple light falling to the desk top and leaving black marks on its surface. Instinct was yelling at him to attack first, in case Jameson used that time against him. But a small part of him wanted to listen. And that small part was speaking louder the longer he waited. He gritted his teeth, then sat down in the desk chair. “You’d better be fast.”

Jameson nodded, relieved, then walked over and took the seat across the desk from Marvin. {Well, you see, it started about two days after Jack fled. I received an…ah, unusual text. From the glitch himself, Antisepticeye.}

“Wait, what?!” Marvin gaped. “And you didn’t tell any of us about it?!”

{He, ah, asked me if I wanted to make a deal with him. Said it would benefit the both of us, but that if I told any of you, the deal would be off.} Jameson grimaced. {And later, I had…other reasons to not tell. But back to the beginning. I agreed to meet with him immediately, in a public place…}

* * *

The cafe was surprisingly busy, for it being late evening. Anti might’ve known about that, and thus accepted it as a suitable meeting place. Jameson took out his watch and checked the time, then scanned the wrought iron tables for a familiar face. He saw it quickly enough. A mirror image of Jack, but with the addition of an eye-patch, wearing dark clothes except for the green scarf around his neck. He was leaning back on his iron chair, his eye immediately locking onto Jameson the moment he saw him. He continued to watch him as he approached the table and sat in the other chair.

“Well, hello Jackson, it’s good to see you.” Anti flashed a smile. “How long has it been, eighty, ninety years?”

{Ninety four,} Jameson supplied. {Though if you count the meetings we’ve had in passing these recent years, it’s only been about a month.}

Anti chuckled. “Honestly, what were the odds they’d find _you_?” He leaned forward onto the table, expression suddenly dropping its amused facade. “Has it been worth it, JJ? All of it? Do you ever lay awake at night?”

Jameson frowned, brushing nonexistent dust off his sleeve. {I would say so.} Projecting to Anti had always been…strange. He couldn’t quite tell if it was getting through. It was the difference between talking to someone on the phone, and leaving a message on their answering machine and hoping they’d get it. {Did you call me here just to throw accusations at me? I thought you wanted to discuss a deal.}

“I do, I do. In a way. But first, I need to clear something up.” Anti grinned. “So. That watch of yours. You ever add any additional enchantments to it?”

{A few,} Jameson said warily. {Why, any in particular you’re wondering about?}

“Oh, I don’t know. It’s just that…Jack shot your wonderful watch, didn’t he?” Anti’s head tilted sideways. A motion accompanied by an short, loud electric crackling that could almost imitate a gunshot. “And you were pretty much out of commission until it got fixed, which I don’t remember ever happening when it got damaged before. And I don’t remember it _bleeding_ either.”

There was something in Anti’s tone, an almost threatening edge, that caused Jameson to back away. {So? If you’d please get to the point.}

“A̛lr͏i̡g͟h͝t.” And without further ado, Anti’s hand darted towards Jameson’s vest and glitched right through.

Jameson would’ve shrieked if he could. As it was, he flailed wildly and pushed his chair back so quickly that he almost toppled out. Anti sharply withdrew his hand. {What the devil was that?!} Jameson demanded. He patted the front of the vest, noticing the buttons had come undone.

“Oh, look what I have.” Anti opened his fist, showing he was now holding Jameson’s watch. The silver disc dangled on a chain, Anti’s fingers tangling around it.

Jameson stiffened. {Give that back,} he hissed.

“Why? You can live without it. Or…can you?” There was suddenly a knife in Anti’s other hand. He rested the tip against the edge of the watch, along the seam where the back would come off to reveal the gears.

Anger turned to fear rapidly, the sudden change between hot air and cold water. {Anti…put the knife down. Please.}

Anti looked surprised. “Oh, why? This is just a pocket watch. But it is an antique. You worried I’ll damage its gears?” He pulled the watch up into his hand, holding it securely as he pressed the knife deeper into the seam.

Jameson half-stood, hand reaching toward the watch before withdrawing again. {Anti, please. I promise it isn’t worth it.}

“You know, now I’m really curious about the gears of this watch. Let’s check on them, wh̕y̛ ̶don'̷t w̨e?” Anti suddenly pressed the blade into the seam, twisting it. The back of the watch popped off.

Jameson’s free hand suddenly clutched the left side of his chest.

Anti peered into the inner workings of the watch. His face twisted unpleasantly. “Of course. Take a look at this, why don’t you? I bet this is why it doesn’t tell time properly.” He tilted the watch so Jameson could see.

The watch didn’t have gears. There wasn’t anything metallic inside at all. Instead, the inside of the watch was made of red, red flesh. In the center there was a miniature human heart, beating, beating beating, connected to the walls of the watch through veins. And every time the heart beat, the watch let out a tick-tock. Tick-tock. Tick-tock.

“Now that is a clear sign, if I’ve ever seen one…of blood magick.” Anti’s sclera darkened to black. “A dark branch, perhaps as dark as you can get. Using the life force of others to give yourself power, health…long life.”

Jameson would’ve said his heart stop, but clearly it was beating steadily.

“I bet you’ve lost track, haven’t you? When did you stop counting? When it reached the triple digits? When it went on for more than a decade?” Anti inched the knife closer to the watch. “Don’t you think it’s about time you make up for it?”

{No! Don’t!} Jameson’s hand darted forward, but it stopped when Anti inched the blade closer. {Please, I-I’ll—}

“Do anything?”

After a moment’s hesitation, Jameson nodded.

“Good.” The knife disappeared, and Anti replaced the back of the watch, clicking it into place. “Now. Here’s the deal I’m offering you.” Anti flicked his wrist, and the watch disappeared. “I’m going to hold onto that for a while. If you want it back, you’re going to do what I say.”

Jameson laughed, the sound coming out a voiceless wheeze. {So, it’s blackmail, then?}

“You’re not new to the idea, I know,” Anti stated. “I’d say I feel sorry for you, but I really don’t.” His eye turned entirely black. “I told you that you were walking down a dark path. I told you it would lead to your own ruin.”

{It’s time to collect, isn’t it?} Jameson asked bitterly.

“Oh, no. You ran across your ruin a long time ago.” Anti’s eye turned back to normal. He looked almost sympathetic. “You were the worst mistake I’ve ever made,” he whispered.

Jameson didn’t like the slight twinge that snapped in his chest. {Just tell me what you want.}

The sympathy disappeared. “It’s very simple, actually. I want you and your friends out of the way.”

* * *

“You sold us out to ensure your own safety,” Marvin muttered.

Jameson looked at him with soft eyes. {Marvin, can you honestly, truly tell me you wouldn’t do the same?}

Marvin didn’t even bother to protest. Because the truth was that he would. In that way, he couldn’t really blame Jameson. He sighed, and was about to reply, when he heard something. A crash, close by. Close enough to be in the building. He stopped. “What was that?”

{You’d think they’d be more careful,} Jameson said dully. {Marvin, the deal was to get all of you out of the way. Yet you’re still here.}

“You called them here?!” Marvin shot to his feet, adrenaline suddenly rushing through his veins. It was the ABIM, it must’ve been. “You call—you did that when you left the room, didn’t you?! You lied about whatever bullshit preparations.”

{I did,} Jameson admitted. {And I would do it again.}

“You would…” The ache in Marvin’s chest was familiar. Betrayal didn’t feel like a stab in the back at a crucial moment. There wasn’t any dramatic buildup or music. There was just shock and pain hitting you in waves, a deep emptiness in your heart, and the bone-deep knowledge that, though it had taken you years to build trust, it had been destroyed in mere moments.

{I suggest you leave,} Jameson suggested, not looking in Marvin’s direction. {Now. Go somewhere I can’t find you.}

For a moment more, Marvin just stared at Jameson, mouth open, eyes wide…and watering. Then there was a puff of purple smoke, and he was gone.

The smoke was still lingering in the room when the two ABIM magicians burst into the room. “He was here!” Frederick shouted, noticing the trails of purple. “He was just here!” He turned his attention to Jameson. “Sir, are you alright?”

Jameson nodded, standing up. _I’m sorry, you missed him,_ he signed. _I tried to stall him as long as I could, but he heard you coming._

“We barely missed him, he tried to stall, but he heard us,” Yvonne translated. “Shit! My stupid long legs! I knew knocking that mirror off would force him to leave!” She sighed. “Well, thank you anyway, sir. You don’t mind if we look through the building? That must’ve been just a short-range teleport.”

Jameson shook his head, putting a pleasant smile on his face. _Not at all._

“Alright. Thank you, this shouldn’t take too long. Frederick, you can cast the detection again?”

“Yeah, I got it.” The two of them continued to discuss as they left the office, closing the door behind them.

Jameson sat down again, and buried his face in his hands. Why was it that his chest was empty, yet he could feel pain inside?

For the first time in decades, Jameson Jackson started to cry.


	25. Trial and Error

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone watches as Chase, Jackie, and Schneep finally own up to what they've done.

“There’s an eight hour time difference between here and there, so it’s…noon there.” Jack yawned, putting down his phone where he’d been looking up the time zones. “They should be…you know…now.”

Anti glanced at him. “You know, you don’t have to see this. You can just go back to bed and I can fill you in on everything in the morning.”

Jack shook his head. “No, no, I do have to. At the very least, I have to know this.” Sam, sitting on his shoulder, bobbed up and down in agreement.

“If you insist. Though, you’re not obligated to stay if something upsets you.”

“Yeah…I know.” Jack took a deep, steadying breath. He would be lying if he said that he wasn’t a little nervous. But, well…he just had to know. Maybe it was looking for a sense of closure or something. “Let’s just—just turn it on.”

Anti nodded. The two of them plus Sam were sitting in one of the House’s lounges, with Jack on the sofa and Anti in a nearby armchair. It was four a.m. and the room was completely empty. This room in the House was notable for having a large television, one of the few rooms to have one at all. Anti turned to look at it, tilting its head. The screen flickered on, run through with static, and began flipping rapidly through the channels.

“Okay, but—are you sure that we’ll get the channel all the way out here?” Jack asked. “We are on the other side of the fucking world.”

“I love how you still assume this place works according to the laws of reality,” Anti said, a small grin tugging at his mouth. “Mr. Pink-and-Yellow and that family of newspeople rigged it up. You’ll get _all_ channels on the TVs and radios here. It’ll just take me a bit to find the one we need.”

“Ah.”

“How about this. Are _you_ sure they’ll film this? Much less make it live?”

“Trust me, this is a big deal for the city. There’s no way they wouldn’t televise it.”

For a moment more, it was silent except for sound snippets of various shows that managed to escape Anti’s quick channel switching. The room was dark, except for the blue glow from the screen and the soft green light from Sam. “So, how did yesterday go?” Anti finally asked. “How do you feel about it?”

“Pretty good,” Jack said, brightening up. “It was fun to record again, especially with friends. We did trivia. And tie-dye. Sort of.” He paused, expression dimming a bit. “I guess I’m still a little nervous about being found.”

“Well. If you’re going to leave anyway soon, I don’t see why you shouldn’t have fun before that.” Anti shrugged. “Besides, I don’t think they’re gonna be able to look for you anymore.”

“Yeah, if this—wait that was it! Go back, you missed it!”

Anti paused, then went back a couple channels until he landed on the one they wanted. The screen now showed the view of a courtroom, midday sunlight streaming through tall windows. Benches around the edge of the room were packed full of civilians, but the floor of the courtroom was empty except for the panel of judges, the lawyers, and the single defendant.

“Oh my god.” Jack covered his mouth with his hand. He’d heard what had happened, but it was still a shock to see. Maybe partially because he’d never seen Jackie in that red supersuit before.

“This should be quick,” Anti said, leaning forward. “If their file on him is half the size of mine, then there’s too much evidence for even the best defense attorney to drag this on.”

Jack lowered his hand. “Do you…do you think they already did Chase and…?”

“Not sure. I can check?”

“N…no, we’ll know soon enough.” Jack took a deep breath, pulling his legs up onto the couch and drawing his knees to his chest. Sam curled up, settling against the hood of his hoodie. Anti glanced at him, then after a while turned back to the screen. They all fell silent, watching. Waiting.

* * *

Jackie wanted to scream. Not because he knew he was screwed, but because these court proceedings were taking too damn long. He did this list of things, slap a guilty verdict on it and be done. But no, they had to go over what exactly he did, what crimes he was accused of that he didn’t do, what in the house he was aware of and what he wasn’t, and then the court-appointed defense lawyer had to wrestle with the wording to try and get the smallest possible charges. Dear god, this had lasted over an hour, and he was tired of sitting in the same chair with nothing to do except play with the ends of his hair. Every time he thought it was getting close to being over, one of the lawyers went “and furthermore…” and he slammed his head down on the table with an audible thud.

Until finally, the chief judge said, “The court calls Jackie Parker to the stand” and he almost audibly shouted out loud at the chance to finally do something, even if that something was landing himself in prison.

His defense lawyer, appointed by the court, gave him a sharp glare, as if begging him not to mess it up further. Jackie flashed a grin at her before taking the stand. Meanwhile, the prosecutor gathered his notes, adjusting his posture, and began.

At first, the questions were simple, along the same lines:

“Do you plead guilty to the fire of Hostel Street?”

“Yes.”

“You started the fire knowing there were twenty people inside, five of whom would perish in the flames?”

“Yes.”

“Do you plead guilty to the shooting of Quarterly Square?”

“No, I don’t use guns.”

“Do you accept that you were an accomplice to the death of Michael Westerly?”

“Yes.”

“You were aware of what would happen to him if given to this friend of yours?”

“Yes…unfortunately.”

And on and on and on. Jackie slowly started to slump in the stand as the prosecutor continued to repeat things he already knew. Until something new finally came up.

“The police found a bottle of amphetamines in the bathroom of the house you were staying in with your name on it. Do you plead guilty to misuse of these?”

Jackie blinked, standing up straight. “I’m sorry, what?”

The prosecutor gave a smug look, reaching behind his table and pulling out a plastic bag with an orange bottle inside. “These.”

“Are you fucking—it’s called Dexedrine, you idiot.” Jackie grabbed the mike stand, fighting the urge to strangle it. “It’s an ADHD medication I have a prescription for. No, I don’t misuse them, I use them as intended. Did you even bother to check my medical records before you decided to run tests on the pills like we’re on CSI?”

The prosecutor had the grace to look embarrassed, placing the plastic bag down slowly. He cleared his throat. “There were human remains found in the basement of the house you were staying in, as well as several rooms that showed blood when run over with a UV light. Do you have knowledge of these?”

Unease curled up in the bottom of Jackie’s stomach. “All I knew was that some messed-up shit went on down there, nothing specific.”

“The police say you claim there were more people living in the house than the three of you,” the prosecutor said, flipping through his notes. “Do you repeal this claim?”

“Do I take it back? No. Count the number of bedrooms, you can figure it out on your own.” Wasn’t this more of a police thing to ask? Maybe they were just trying to paint him in a worse light. After all, why even bring up the medication if you didn’t want an excuse to add another offense to the list? 

“The prosecution rests, Your Honor.”

“Very well,” the chief judge said. “Does the defense have anything more?”

After a moment’s hesitation, the defense attorney shook her head. “No, Your Honor.”

“In that case, this trial is adjourned.” The bang of the gavel rang like a gunshot through the room. “The court will deliver its verdict later this afternoon. For now, we will take a twenty-minute recess before the next trial.”

Jackie breathed a sigh of relief. At least it was over. Good god, that had been almost worse than any verdict the court could deliver. He knew it was too much to hope for a light sentence. Since the moment the police had burst into the house nearly a week ago, he’d resigned himself to this fate. All he could really do was hope the others’ trials went well. That they’d…be okay. 

* * *

Usually, there was a side room as part of the courthouse where the defendant sat and waited. But that wasn’t available for Jackie—something about too much risk. So instead, he was taken back to the police station and put in the exact same underground holding cell where he’d been staying for five days.

Chase and Schneep were still there, each inside their own holding cell. The minute they saw Jackie coming back, they both rushed to watch him.

“Jackie, Jackie, you are back!” Schneep said excitedly. “I was starting to worry you were going to be gone forever.”

“Did it go well?” Chase asked. “I think it lasted longer than mine.”

“Chase, I’m 99% sure that’s because my list of illegal stuff is longer than yours,” Jackie said. He took a brief moment to glare at the police officer roughly pushing him towards the holding cell, then walked inside, the door clanging shut behind him. “Anyway, it went pretty okay. But they kept trying to get me to admit to doing shit I didn’t do.” He laughed. “Guess it’s easy to pin it all on one person who people already don’t like.”

Schneep snorted. “Of course it is. What did they make up? It helps to know what is not real.”

Jackie sighed. “They didn’t make anything up, all the stuff happened. I just wasn’t responsible for it.” He leaned against the nearest wall. “I mean, come on, do I look like the kind of person who’d shoot up a square full of civilians? I’m a lot of things, but I’m not…” He shifted uncomfortably. “…like _that_.”

“Least you got that going for you,” Chase said. “Hey, do you think journalists will ask to interview us? Doesn’t that happen sometimes? If they do, then you can set your story straight there.”

“Hah. Maybe.”

There had been a group of police officers lingering by the end of the hall during this whole conversation. But now, they returned to the area the three were being kept in. One of them took out a ring of keys and approached the door to Schneep’s holding cell. “Alright, psycho, you’re up next. Come on, we have to hurry to get there on time.”

Schneep glared. “There is no need to be a rude little bitch baby about it. You should have some respect for me.”

“Shut up, you’re lucky you’re even still here and not being shipped back across the North Sea. Now come on.” The cop unlocked the door, opened it, and grabbed Schneep by the arm, pulling him out. Schneep shot Jackie and Chase a look like ‘can you believe this?’ before allowing himself to be dragged away.

“Good luck!” Jackie called, waving a bit. When Schneep disappeared up the stairs, out of the holding cells area, he looked to Chase. “You think he’ll be alright?”

“Yeah, sure.” Chase shrugged. He glanced back at Jackie, in the holding cell across from him. “You worried?”

“I just—I dunno, I don’t want him to mess it up somehow.”

“I’m pretty sure anything he does over there is just gonna help his plea.”

Jackie folded his arms, hands rubbing his shoulders. “I guess. Then again, he doesn’t even _want_ that plea, it’s entirely the lawyer’s plan.”

“Again, pretty sure that’s just gonna help it along.”

Jackie didn’t answer. He was too busy mentally reviewing all the times Schneep had caused a ruckus when they went out. But after a while, he sighed. “Hey Chase? How…how did yours go?”

Chase paused, thinking. “Okay, I guess. Not what I was expecting.”

“What were you expecting?”

“I dunno. Like, a jury and just one judge. More lawyer debate? I don’t know.”

“Oh, I see. You thought it would be like the American system.” Jackie rubbed his forehead. “You’ve lived here for, what, ten years and you don’t know how our judicial system works? Actually, that’s fair. _I_ don’t know how it works.”

“Well, I never really thought about it,” Chase said, sounding as if he just came to that realization. “Ironic, huh? Considering I’ve been making a mess of things since I was twenty-one.”

“Chase, stop it,” Jackie scolded. “You’re more than that.” When Chase didn’t answer, Jackie changed the subject. “So…your trial went okay, then?”

“Yeah. They didn’t try to pin anything else on me, like it sounds they did with you. So I just pleaded guilty to everything.” Chase chuckled darkly. “Pretty sure my lawyer hated me for that.”

Jackie frowned. “You know…” he said slowly. “I recognize the chief judge here. He’s been paid off by one of the gangs before, which means he’s not opposed to bribes. I mean, it also means he was probably bribed to put me and maybe Schneep in jail, but for you—”

“Jackie, no,” Chase shut him down. “We’re not bribing the judge to get me off.”

“I’ve done it before! It’ll probably be a pretty big drain in my savings, but I guess I don’t need that anym—”

“I know you’ve done it. And…I guess thanks for that?” Chase waved his hand in a vague gesture, looking away. “But you really shouldn’t do that anymore. I’m going to jail. End of story.”

“Chase.” Jackie leaned forward. If they weren’t stuck in separate cells, he would’ve grabbed Chase by the shoulders and forced him to look at him. “You can’t just do this. Punishing yourself isn’t going to do anyone any good.”

“It’s not me punishing myself!” Chase suddenly snapped. “I know what that feels like. This is different. It’s karma, for everything I’ve done. If I’ve hurt people, which I have, it’s only fair that I-I go somewhere else so that I won’t do that again.”

“Alright, alright, that makes sense,” Jackie conceded. “But fucking jail?! You could’ve taken the same route as Schneep—”

“No, no, I really couldn’t’ve.” Chase shook his head. “I knew exactly what I was doing every time.”

Jackie hesitated. “But—”

“Jackie, _stop_.” Chase finally looked back at him. “If you want to keep making excuses, go ahead. I’m done. I’m going to take some fucking responsibility for once in my life, and I’d like it if you didn’t stop me. Thanks.”

Jackie opened his mouth, searching for more words but finding none. Could he really do anything—no, _should_ he do anything to stop him? He couldn’t find an answer, either. With a sudden yell of pure frustration, Jackie punched the nearest wall, not bothering to notice how the jolt hurt his hand. He walked to the back of the holding cell, stood facing the wall, and buried his face in his hands, taking deep breaths.

The worst part wasn’t going to jail. It was watching the others go too, and not being able to do anything about it.

* * *

A lot of TVs across the city were tuned in to the same channel, watching the trials go down. And why wouldn’t they be? In a city riddled with crime, any progress made fighting against it was important enough to watch, regardless of what else you had planned that day.

Luckily, Stacy had the day off from work. Unluckily, the kids hadn’t started school yet, and were liable to wander into the room at any minute. She’d given them permission to get out the Legos, hoping that would keep them in their room. Probably not the best parenting method to give them a distraction so she wouldn’t have to deal with them, but it was just for today. Just so she could find out what happened.

Honestly, she wasn’t sure why she was still watching. Chase’s trial had ended almost two hours ago, and she wasn’t too well-acquainted with these other two friends of his. Maybe she was just waiting for the sentence, to be delivered after all of the trials were finished.

She hadn’t been surprised when Chase didn’t mention what happened with Jack…or with her. After all, the court probably wouldn’t believe his story about magic hypnotism. But she had been mildly, almost pleasantly surprised to see how he was acting. He was admitting to it, not covering up misdeeds with misdirection and excuses. It was a…weird feeling, to see this progress he’d made. Good, she supposed.

Stacy took out her phone, scrolling through her contacts until she landed on a number. Jack had given it to her a few weeks ago, saying it was the number of someone he thought she could talk to. And he’d end up being right. To the point where she found herself dialing it now.

The other end rang for a long time before being picked up. “Gott, Stacy, do you realize what time it is?”

Stacy glanced at the clock. “Oh…sorry Gretchen, I forgot about the time difference.”

“Is fine, I suppose. What is it? Is something wrong?”

“No, not really,” Stacy said slowly. “I’m just…so I’m watching a televised trial. Of, uh, Chase and his friends.”

“Ah.” She could practically see Gretchen shaking her head. “Why do you do this to yourself?”

“I-It’s not bad. You know, _your_ ex is on trial right now.”

“Great, tell me what they decide for him later. Though I am surprised they did not send him back.”

“I think there’s some rule about someone being arrested for crimes committed in a different country? I don’t know.” Stacy sighed. “Anyway, I just—I wanted to ask you something. Is it weird to feel…I don’t know, good? About watching him own up to what he did?”

“Good in what way?”

“I’m not sure.” Stacy thought about it for a while. “Almost…proud? I don’t know.”

“Huh.” Gretchen paused, mulling it over. “I suppose not. Is probably because of some lingering affection for the version you knew. I think as long as you’re not thinking of returning, it would be fine.”

“I’m not, don’t worry.”

“That is great! Now, if you excuse me, it is five o’clock in the morning and I am tired.”

“Of course. Talk to you later, Gretch?”

“Yes, sure. I will see you then.”

“Goodbye.”

Stacy lowered her phone, smiling a bit. It was nice to have someone to talk to about these things, someone who’d been in a similar situation. Someone who could be considered a real friend, even if it ended up being long-distance.

* * *

Elsewhere in the city, someone else had the trial on television as well. This TV was a smaller, boxier model that could probably stand to be replaced. But then again, it worked perfectly fine, and Jameson was always a fan of the older style.

Jameson was watching the televised trial while making tea. Or, well, _he_ wasn’t making tea. That task belonged to…ah, he could never remember their names. There were too many of them, especially over the years. So he usually just gave them nicknames based on their defining traits. The one he had up here now was called Green, for his green eyes. That was the one making the tea.

Jameson leaned forward in his chair, eyes scanning the screen intently. The doctor didn’t seem too happy with how the proceedings were going. Or maybe the fuss he was making was unrelated. It was a distinct possibility.

Jameson heard the kettle whistle, and he instinctively reached for his vest pocket before remembering that there was nothing inside anymore. The fact put a sour taste in his mouth, and he sighed. He didn’t really need the watch to maintain the connections he’d already made, but it was a comfort. {Green, take care of that,} he projected. The rustling sound of movement came from the kitchen.

He watched the trial for a bit longer, but then found himself standing up, wandering over to the shelves around the corner of the room. About half of them were filled with books, but the other half were filled with various knickknacks and collectibles, giving the room a cozy, cluttered sort of feel. He ran his hand along some of the items until he found an old radio. Picking it up, he twisted the knobs, causing bursts of static as it tried to read through stations that no longer existed. But within the static, one could hear words.

There was a noise behind him. {Set it down on the table and get it ready,} he said, not bothering to turn around. Footfalls against carpet, and the sound of a tray being set on a wooden surface. Some clattering, and the gentle sound of tea being poured.

Jameson kept fiddling with the radio dials until the words were as clear as they could’ve possibly been. Still difficult to understand, but he could remember what they were supposed to sound like…

“ _I should have stopped this earlier. But now? Well, don’t blame me for where this takes you. Remember this when you look back on who you were. Goodbye, Jameson Jackson._ ”

The radio had broken after their last argument. Every sound it picked up had been tinged with static and distortion, and always those words echoing in the background. He didn’t know why he kept it around. But lately…well, he’d been listening to the words more and more often.

Jameson turned off the radio and replaced it on its shelf. He finally turned around. {That will be all. Go to your room now.} Green nodded, and left silently. Jameson returned to the chair and picked up the tea, resuming his interest in the trial on television.

Yet, he found he couldn’t concentrate. He felt…he didn’t know the word anymore. But it was an unsettling feeling that followed him around. In fact, a feeling that had latched onto him five days ago, when a man in a black cat mask had disappeared in a burst of purple smoke.


	26. The Only Truth That Sticks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marvin has a breakdown, both mental and magical. And something...happens.

For a while, the cabin was as undisturbed as it’s always been. The trees around it were motionless, no wind or animals rustling the branches. The sky above was the dusky blue color of just after sunset. The cabin was the only building in sight, and it looks well-settled in its place in the earth.

And then the air changed, like it shifted uneasily. There was a puff of purple smoke, and suddenly a man was there, stumbling and leaning against the nearest tree.

Marvin closed his eyes, breathing heavily. His hands were shaking slightly, and he couldn’t stop shivering. So many teleportation spells in a row, across so long a distance, had drained him. But it had been worth it. There was no way anyone could find him here. He stood up straight, looking at the cabin. God, how long had it been since he’d seen this place? He barely remembered it, how could anyone else connect him to it?

The inside looked untouched, a layer of dust covering every surface. Marvin didn’t bother to turn on any of the lamps; though it would be dark to anyone else, he could see well enough. The cabin was small. The living area had a tiny kitchenette attached, and there were only three doors visible, leading to the bedroom, bathroom, and storage closet.

Bookshelves lined the walls of the room, but every single one was empty. That’s right, he remembered. He’d taken all his books with him when he decided to move. Kept them all downstairs in the basement, all piled everywhere with no organization. Until Jameson came along and—

Marvin’s breath hitched. No no no no, why was he thinking about this? He should be thinking about anything else. Not about how the ABIM who’d found him had surely taken all his books away. Or how they’d probably taken all his other stuff away. Because Jameson had told—and they hadn’t taken _all_ his stuff away, because Jameson took his soul searcher and—and Jameson had—

Marvin found his breathing growing quicker, every inhale tearing at his lungs. He threw himself on the nearest sofa, burying his face in the throw pillow. The mask dug against his face, so he pulled back, undid the straps, and threw it against the wall, not bothering to look to hear the clatter of it landing.

Stop it stop it stop it stop it stop it—he couldn’t. His mouth was open in an attempt to get as much air as possible, but it wasn’t enough. Tears leaked from his eyes as he gripped the cushions, opening and closing his fist in an attempt to calm down. Small whimpers escaped his throat. 

There wasn’t room for thoughts in his mind. Just waves of feelings crashing into him that he couldn’t name if someone asked him to. Something that ached inside so much it hurt, like touching ice so cold it’s scorching. Something that hit him and spun him around, a windstorm of hail. Something that felt like an empty wound bleeding onto the floor. It was too much, too much, too much. He gasped for air, running a hand through his hair as his other clawed uselessly at the sofa beneath him.

Why? Why was it that every time he opened the gate for someone, they burned the garden inside?

He couldn’t say how long he stayed there, hyperventilating so hard his throat started to burn, crying so much his eyes dried out. Eventually, he ran himself out. He huddled into the corner of the sofa, hugging the throw pillow and running his hands along the fabric. At some point he’d started chewing on the edge of his cape. He didn’t mind. It was almost…grounding, in a way. Made him feel less like an empty balloon that had deflated until it was lying sadly on the floor.

Maybe he would’ve done the same thing as Jameson had, if he’d been in that position. But he didn’t know. He had no way of knowing. And it didn’t stop him from thinking that Jameson _should_ have found another way around it. There had to be one. Maybe if he’d told him the situation, he could’ve helped him find it. There just—Jameson couldn’t have _wanted_ to do it. It couldn’t have been that way. All of it, all those late nights in the library, all those times they came to each other’s assistance, all those thoughts Marvin had felt safe enough to share, safer than he’d ever felt with anyone else…it couldn’t have meant _nothing._

Was that all it was worth? Nothing?

Marvin gritted his teeth. It didn’t matter, did it? All that mattered was that he’d been taken in again. Left out in the cold. Every time. _Every time_ he let someone in _,_ it ended like this. Why the fuck did he keep doing it?

He sat up straight, muscles aching as he uncurled from his position. Maybe he should just stop. Just stop everything. If fucking Jameson did this, then anyone could. And anyone did! That’s what they all did, leave someone at the curb at the first opportunity! With a sudden yell, he threw the throw pillow across the room, smacking it against the wall. Before it even began to fell, it was hit with a bolt of purple magic, eating up the fabric and burning the stuffing inside.

Marvin was breathing heavily again, though for an entirely different reason now. He shot to his feet and threw out his arms, flinging an arc of purple across the room, where it began to sizzle through every surface it touched. He made a gesture like he was holding a ball and brought his hand down. There was a sound, almost like metal clanging against metal but a thousand times louder, and shockwaves of magic traveled through the room. The furniture suddenly launched away from him, hitting the walls. He covered his ears and screamed, and the furniture cracked with purple light and exploded, shards of wood and metal and glass flying everywhere.

It wasn’t enough. Spinning on his heel, Marvin turned and sprinted back outside. The door burst outward. He ran and ran and ran between the dark trees, until he stopped, not even thinking about where he was, and screamed again. The branches bent backwards, the bark of the trees turning purple and rotting away. The trees had no time to recover before there was purple light slicing through their trunks, felling them in some places. Violet magic dripped like sludge to the ground, and the grass and shrub withered and died instantly. Whirling purple meteors screamed as they careened through the trees, turning whatever they touched black and twisted. Marvin was in the center of it all, ribbons of violet twisting around him, glowing circles expanding ever outwards. And he kept screaming.

It always ended in disaster, crashing and agony. No matter what he did, no matter how hard he tried. Well, he wouldn’t try then. No more. No more! _No more!_ If they wanted to get past the garden gate this time, they’d only find ash beyond.

He kept screaming, even after his throat became raw. He kept pushing magic outward, even as the ground beneath his feet blackened. Even as the trees crashed to the ground and decayed to nothing. Even as his legs collapsed and he fell to his hands and knees. Even as blood began to drip from his nose and ears and his mind started to spin. Even as he lost the strength to hold himself up and fell to the ground, heaving up thick, dark blood.

He kept pushing even as there was nothing left to give.

Until he was beyond empty.

And Marvin closed his eyes, and stopped moving.

Throughout the night, the land remained silent, as if it was mourning that circle of dead earth. The stars and moon ahead went on their course, peering down at the black, poisoned land and the one lying in the center of it all. The sun rose, weak rays barely touching the rocky ground around the magician, let alone the magician himself. The day passed, the course of the planet unaltered, and the sun sank below the horizon again, the moon resuming its vigil.

His fingers twitched.

His arm moved back in a jerky motion, followed by the other. He pushed himself into a kneeling position, and from there clambered slowly, awkwardly, back to his feet. He swayed back and forth.

From there, he reached up, hand splayed open and stretched to the sky. In the center of his palm grew an orb. Burning magic. Dripping magic. Magic that was violet along its edges, but grew yet darker towards the center, until the core of it was black.

He opened his eyes. No longer blue, but purple, dark fluid dripping from the sockets.

A smile twisted his face, and in a flash of dark smoke, he was gone.


	27. Burning Violet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chase and Jackie, headed on their way to prison, are suddenly attacked by someone familiar...

It was raining. Jackie could hear it hitting the roof of the van. He couldn’t see it, of course, since there weren’t any windows in the back. It must’ve been considered a security risk to put windows in a vehicle meant to transport criminals. Jackie supposed that made sense, but it also meant that he had no idea where they were, and more importantly, he was bored as hell with no outside surroundings to distract him.

He looked around the inside of the van again. There was a bench along each side. He was sitting on the one on the left side of the van, and directly across from him was Chase. There was a small pane of glass in one wall that acted as a window into the front of the van, through which you could see the two police officers driving. There were four other officers sitting on the benches in the back, two of which, Jackie noticed, were carrying firearms.

Jackie stopped looking around and looked down at his hands instead. He pulled on his fingers. One of the officers cleared her throat, and he made a face at her. Honestly, just because he was fidgeting a bit didn’t mean he was trying to get the handcuffs off. He could tell these guys were a bit on edge.

He should feel uneasy in this situation. But he didn’t think that he should be feeling as…uncomfortably awkward as he was right now.

“Are you mad at me?” he finally blurted out.

It took Chase a few seconds to realize that, yes, Jackie was talking to him. Once he realized that, he could only stare at him. “I’m sorry, what?”

“I was just…are you mad at me?” This was a completely ridiculous place to have this conversation. But after the trials had ended and the sentences were passed down, everything seemed to happen at once. Jackie barely had time to say goodbye to Schneep before he was separated from him and Chase.

“…you couldn’t’ve brought this up earlier? Like, soon after we left the police station?” Chase asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I mean, I guess I could’ve, but…uh…” Jackie squirmed. “I was…can you just tell me if you are?”

“No, I’m not mad at you. Why would I be mad at you?”

“I don’t know. You haven’t been talking to me. Not since yesterday.” Jackie paused. “Are you mad that I offered to bribe the judge? I was just trying to help.”

“I know you were, it’s—do we have to talk about this in front of the cops?” Chase gave the nearest officer the side eye.

“Well, when would you rather talk about this? When we’re in maximum security? I’m pretty sure there would be people there, too.”

“I dunno, we could’ve done this last night?”

“We could have. If you had bothered to say anything when I tried to start talking.” Jackie sighed. “If you’re not mad, then why are you giving me the silent treatment?”

Chase rolled his eyes. “Has it occurred to you that I’m trying to deal with the fact that the two of us just basically lost all our freedom for the rest of our lives?”

“You’re the one who wanted to go to jail.”

“Well, I don’t _want_ to, I just…nngh.” Chase started to raise one hand to his head before remembering that he was handcuffed as well. He settled for burying his face in his hands. “It’s…better this way.”

Jackie winced. He wasn’t sure if Chase knew how self-deprecating that sounded. “How? Just…help me understand, here.”

With a dry laugh, Chase looked back up. “What’s so hard to understand about a murderer going to prison?”

“It’s hard because you…were never like this before,” Jackie said slowly. “And I’m…I’m so confused about what changed. I’m…worried about you, Chase. You’ve been different lately. And I-I don’t—did I do something to affect that? I…” He trailed off.

Chase’s expression softened. “No, Jackie. You didn’t do anything wrong. I’m not mad at you for anything you said yesterday. This was just…a long time coming.” He leaned back against the van wall. “I’ve always felt fucking horrible about…well, everything. You know what I’m talking about. But I can’t…stop being awful. All I could do was keep spiraling. You’re wondering what changed? What changed is that I finally had to look consequences in the face. I can’t…keep running. I have to turn around at some point. Maybe then, I’ll…I don’t know.”

Jackie was silent for a moment, processing. It felt like his heart was cracking, pieces falling off. He always knew Chase had it bad, but…maybe he was starting to figure out what was really going on in his head. “There’s no therapy in prison, you know,” he muttered.

“You don’t know that. Have you ever been there?”

“No.”

“Besides, if there isn’t, me being in jail has to be a little better for everyone else.” Chase sighed. “Maybe—”

“Can you two shut your mouths for a few minutes?”

Jackie jumped. He’d almost forgotten there were four police officers listening to everything they were saying. “Well, that’s not very nice,” he muttered.

The officer gave him a dirty look, then stood up and knocked on the window to the front of the van. One of the officers in front slid it open, letting the first one ask, “Westley, why’re we stopped?”

Oh. Jackie hadn’t even noticed it, but the van had stopped. That was…odd.

“There’s someone standing in the road,” The officer behind the wheel said.

“Standing in the road?”

“Yep, right smack dab in the middle.”

“What are they doing?”

“Not much…just standing there.”

And that was even odder.

A different officer looked at Jackie and muttered, “If this is your other friend staging a rescue I swear to god…”

Jackie rolled his eyes. “Henrik wouldn’t do that. Contrary to popular belief, he’s too smart for something that stupid.” Besides, Schneep had been shipped off to his own sentence long before Jackie and Chase had even left. Jackie couldn’t remember the name of the institution…Silver something-or-other. But he did know it was in the opposite direction than the van had been driving in for the last ten minutes. It would be impossible to walk all that way, and arrive in this spot before the van did.

“Hey, Knight,” the driver called. “They’re not moving. What do I do about this?”

“I don’t know, you have an intercom, don’t you?” The officer at the window replied. “Tell them to get out of here.”

The driver nodded, then fiddled with something on the dashboard that Jackie couldn’t make out from his limited view. “This is a prison transport. Please step out of the way of the road or we will be forced to proceed anyway.”

Silence for a moment, except for the sound of the rain. Jackie shifted in his seat uneasily, waiting. The hairs on the back of his neck were standing up; he was on edge and he wasn’t sure why. Then: “Yeah, still not moving.”

“Hey Westley,” said the other officer in front. “Am I crazy or is this guy wearing…I don’t know, electric clothes or something?”

“…you must be crazy, because I have no idea what you mean.”

“Well, I saw sparks or something. There are clothes that light up, aren’t there? Maybe the rain is making it malfunction.”

“How did they get here anyway?” Officer Knight muttered. “We’re fifteen klicks from the edge of the city. And it’s raining.”

“Oh, I see what you mean,” The driver suddenly said. “Yeah, that purple light. Must be from something like that.”

Jackie’s head whipped towards the front of the van. Across from him, Chase stiffened. “Hey, I think you should hit the gas,” Jackie said, raising his voice.

Officer Knight glanced at him. “Friend of yours?”

“Hell no.”

“Well, we can’t run them over, regardless of how you feel about them. But,” Knight knocked on the window. “I suppose we can start driving. They’ll get out of the way.”

Jackie bit his lip. He couldn’t be alone in noticing the slight energy in the air, like a low-frequency humming that ran across your bones. There was something…wrong. He glanced over at Chase, who looked back at him, clearly nervous. 

“Alright, here we go. Can’t say we didn’t warn them,” The driver muttered.

The van lurched into motion. But it couldn’t have gone more than a few feet when the driver suddenly shouted and the other officer in front cried, “What the hell?!”

Jackie ducked his head low, bracing himself. He barely caught sight of the flash of purple light that lit up the world, and then there was a massive _CRACK!_ and an awful shrieking sound. In an instant, the world was a mess of twisted metal with molten edges, purple and black liquid fire racing through the cracks. Jackie was thrown backwards, flipping over and over and eventually coming to an abrupt stop when the back of his head hit something hard enough to make him see white.

For a moment, Jackie could only blink, dazed and unable to grasp where he was or what he was looking at. He was lying on his side on the ground; he could feel grass through the material of the suit he was still wearing. His vision was blurred by streaks of falling water—rain. He pushed up onto his elbows and looked behind him, seeing a tall, broad tree: the start of a line of trees that must’ve been running along the road. Wait, where was the road? He looked forward again, picking out the dark asphalt, slick with rainwater. On top of the asphalt, and half-off it as well, was a pile of shredded metal parts. They were alight with purple fire. It was only when he saw the remains of a tire that he realized that pile of metal had been the van just moments before.

“What the fuck?” he whispered, the sound barely audible. His head hurt—everything hurt. A result of being smacked against the solid asphalt and no doubt hit with debris as well. His vision was swimming from more than just the rain. And he felt sick and dizzy. And that…didn’t feel like it was connected to the rest of his injuries. No…there was something making his skin crawl and his head swim. Something that he couldn’t quite put his finger on, but that he knew he didn’t want anywhere near him.

“ _Jaaaaackie? Are you theeere?_ ”

Oh fuck, that _voice._ The next thing he knew, Jackie was sitting up, his back pressed against the tree. His hand automatically went for his belt where he keeps his knives, but then he remembered that not only were those confiscated by the police, but even if they hadn’t been, he was still handcuffed, making fighting much more difficult. So as it was, he could only struggle to get to his feet without drawing attention to himself. His eyes darted around the scene. The road snaked through a wooded area. There was no sign of any buildings or any other cars coming. He couldn’t see anyone from the van—oh no, where was Chase?! What happened to him?! If the van was that destroyed, it’s a miracle that _he_ survived, what if—

His train of thought was derailed when he saw the figure moving through the wreckage. He recognized the silhouette, the cape that was fluttering despite the rain and lack of wind. But something was…different. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it…perhaps something in the way the figure swayed on his feet, or…something else.

He watched the figure bend down, sorting through the metal scraps. The silhouette picked up a curved piece of wreckage, turning it over in his hands. As Jackie watched, the wreckage became pitted with dripping holes, and eventually melted into dirty liquid metal. Jackie felt his breath catch. He’d never seen that before. And now, he wasn’t sure he ever wanted to see it again. He started backing away, keeping his back pressed to the tree, cuts and bruises aching with every step.

He must have made a wrong move, because the figure outlined in purple fire suddenly turned toward him. The silhouette tilted his head, and Jackie could swear he could see a grin from this distance, through the rain. “ _There you aaaaaare._ ”

Instinct kicked in and Jackie turned and ran. But all of a sudden, there was dark smoke around him, and he stumbled, foot kicking a bit of twisted metal. He was in the middle of the wreckage, surrounded by that purple fire that wasn’t dying. He shivered. The violet light wasn’t hot, it was cold. It leeched the heat out of him, and he felt the chill settle in through his soaked suit. Jackie gasped, backing away from the figure that was now in front of him.

Marvin had changed. Jackie had never seen him without his mask before, so he had no idea if his scars were always that bad, but the rest…His clothes were faded and wrinkled, the color somehow drained. His eyes flared violet, dark liquid like oil or ink dripping from them. And he was indeed grinning. “ _So good to seeeeee you,_ ” he said, singsong, head listing to the side.

“The feeling is not mutual,” Jackie muttered. He had his hands raised in front of him, perhaps an attempt to protect himself. He glanced behind him. It wasn’t too far to the line of trees, if he could get there, maybe he could—

Something burned his arms, and he cries out, spinning back around. He looked down to see parts of his suit sleeves being eaten away by liquid violet. Panicking, he tried to shake it off.

“ _The last time I saw you,_ ” Marvin said, reaching out an open hand dripping with dark purple and black. “ _I had so many plans…We never got to them._ ”

Jackie started to back up. “Yeah, uh…I remember.” He couldn’t get his thoughts in order. How fast was Marvin’s magic? The last time they fought, it hadn’t taken much to bring him down. It only turned out okay because Schneep had stepped in, surprising Marvin. But now…if he just ran, could Marvin hit him? It must be better than just letting himself die, right?

“ _Well…_ ” Marvin blinked, and his eyes were all purple, no white, no pupils. The smile widened. “ _Better late than never, riiiight?_ ”

“Hey!”

Jackie’s head turned toward the cry, only to see a bit of debris being thrown with great force at Marvin. Before he could blink, Marvin caught the debris just before it hit his head. It slowly melted into steel water. Marvin’s eyes faded back to having just purple irises as he scowled in the direction the debris had been thrown from.

Chase was standing, hand outstretched in a way that clearly indicated he’d been the one to throw the debris. His left arm and side were terribly scratched up, blood soaking through his shirt. But he looked determined. “Leave him alone, asshole!”

Marvin hissed. “ _I never really liked you._ ” He flung out an arm, and a spray of purple-black magic arced away from his hand, splattering across the wreckage. Chase ducked behind one of the larger debris pieces just in time.

Jackie recognized the opportunity Chase was giving him, and turned and ran. Unfortunately, he didn’t get far before something wrapped around his ankles and he fell, landing hard on the asphalt and aggravating already-there injuries. He climbed to his hands and knees and looked over his shoulder to see Marvin staring at him. Violet-black tendrils snaked from his fingers along the ground, to where they tangled up Jackie’s legs. “ _Pay attention to me! Did you really think it would be that easy?!_ ” Marvin started pulling on the tendrils, dragging Jackie backwards. Jackie tried to get a rip on the ground, on anything, anything that would let him pull away, to no avail. The tendrils creeped up his legs, burning wherever they touched. “ _It’s all different now. You can’t possibly imagine what I can do. Once upon a time, I wouldn’t have been able to, either. But now. But noooooow!_ ” Marvin laughed, the sound a twisted imitation of joy. “ _Well, I’ll have some fun figuring out what to use first!_ ”

“So with all your fancy new powers, can you survive bullets?!”

Jackie heard the sound of a gunshot, a shriek, and then suddenly the tendrils loosened their hold. He tried to stand up once, fell, and then managed to climb to his feet. His legs were on fire, but he managed to make it to the edge of the road before turning around. He caught sight of Chase ducking behind the same large bit of debris. Marvin shrieked, then brought his hands up and slammed them down. A wave of dark purple lightning raced towards the debris, immediately breaking it apart, pieces flying everywhere, the minute it hit. Chase, left exposed, froze for a moment before aiming with a pistol that Jackie recognized as belonging to one of the cops from the van.

There was another gunshot, and Marvin stumbled to the side. But it hadn’t come from Chase’s gun. Almost in unison, Chase and Marvin looked to the source of the shot. One of the cops was struggling though the wreckage—the one who’d had the other gun, the one whose name, Jackie remembered, was Knight.

Marvin’s eyes lit up again as he turned his attention to Knight. He held out his hand, magic gathering in his palm and dripping down his arm. Chase hesitated for a moment, then bolted to Jackie.

“C’mon, c’mon!” Jackie grabbed Chase’s hand and started running towards the trees. Behind them, there was a flash of dark purple. They passed into the tree line, and heard a cry of pure rage, one that sounded almost more animal than human.

They looked at each other, and silently agreed not to stop for anything. Not even when the grass at their heels started withering, and the branches above turned black and snapped off. Eventually, the purple glow faded, and the sounds of shrieking anger echoed over a great distance.

Only then did they stop, Jackie falling to his knees first before Chase stumbled, leaning against the nearest tree. They didn’t say anything, too busy catching their breath. The rain above was stalled by the branches, but still managed to drip down in places. The pattering of droplets was the only sound, until Chase decided to break the silence. “What—the—actual— _fuck?!_ ” He gasped out.

“I-I don’t know,” Jackie stammered. He gently touched the areas on his legs where the tendrils had wrapped. He immediately cried out, biting it off. He’d been burned before; this was worse. “I’d never seen…or-or even heard of—?”

“Y’know he wouldn’t tell us anyway,” Chase pointed out. “But that…I-I don’t know. That wasn’t supposed to _be_ like that.”

“It felt wrong,” Jackie said quietly. “The whole thing. I just…did it feel wrong to you, too?”

“I felt sick the whole time,” Chase muttered. “It was like..being in a lead paint factory, where the fumes were getting to you. But instead of smell, it was some sort of…sixth sense picking up on it.”

“That’s perfect, th-that’s exactly what it was like,” Jackie agreed. He pressed his hands to his face, taking deep breaths. “…what the fuck do we do now? He wants to kill us!”

“We could try to go back into town?” Chase suggested halfheartedly.

Jackie could only laugh. “Oh yes, great idea. ‘Hello, we’re two wanted criminals who were supposed to go to jail this morning, but the van got absolutely wrecked. Don’t worry, we had nothing to do with it. It was just this magician we know who’s gone absolutely fucking insane!’ You see that going well? I-I don’t see that going well.” He laughed harder. “H-hey, we might get to see Henrik again! Get it? Cause we’d end up in the same place!”

Chase stared at him. “Oh my god, dude, you’re losing it.”

Jackie waved him down. “Jus-just give me a moment. I…wow. That was not what I expected waking up this morning.”

Chase waited a while for Jackie to get a hold of himself. Then he continued, “Well, we can’t just hide in the woods. I’m pretty sure I’m still bleeding, and your legs are fucked up, and who knows what else that explosion could’ve done.”

After a moment’s consideration, Jackie said, “We could try to find somewhere else. Or sneak back into town? Can we do that?”

“Probably better than waiting out here and getting rained on,” Chase sighed. “Come on.” He reached down and helped pull Jackie back into a standing position. “We might as well get started trying to find our way back. I don’t think we want to stay here for long.”

* * *

The rain had stopped about an hour later. The wreck on the road was surrounded by police officers and crime scene investigators, splashing through puddles, examining the debris and wondering what on earth could’ve done such damage. Of course, they were asking the wrong question. It wasn’t anything on earth at all.

In the middle of all this bustling, the air seemed to shimmer, then break apart into pieces that reformed into the shape of a brown-haired man, wearing a black shirt, a green scarf, and an eye-patch.

Anti looked around the site. None of the humans were looking his way—he was deliberately putting out a strong “don’t notice me” trance so he could look around without being interrupted. He’d been half-monitoring the police channels when he picked up chatter. Saying that the transport had never arrived at the prison, and then later saying that the transport had been involved in some sort of wreck. He thought it would be a good idea to check it out. Jack wouldn’t even notice he was gone, because after all, it was about 3:30 in the morning back in Los Angeles, and he was asleep. Hopefully this wasn’t anything too troubling, and he wouldn’t even have to bring it up when he went back.

That notion was immediately thrown out the window the moment he materialized at the site of the wreck. The transport looked like it had been torn to shreds. Anti wandered the site, looking around and listening to the various information being thrown about by the police. Apparently the six officers had all been found dead, some with injuries consistent to a crash, but one’s body was covered in what looked like “acid burns.” And the police for the life of them, couldn’t figure out what caused the wreck.

Because it wasn’t a wreck, Anti realized, staring down at a puddle of liquid metal. Cautiously, he took a deep breath, relaxing, reaching out for—

He stumbled back, particles falling off his body as he suddenly shivered. That feeling…that _feeling…_ Like the foul, poisoned lingering of radioactive waste.

He glitched over to a larger pile of debris, one that looked like it had been…blasted apart. Tilting his head, he could see something the human police couldn’t. A hint of violet, like embers glowing in a dying fireplace. And beneath it, blackness. "Ó déithe, uimh,” he whispered.

He scanned the wooded area around the wreck. Chase and Jackie hadn’t been recovered from the wreck. Some police were positing that it was an escape attempt because of that. But it couldn’t be. Unlike the police, he knew how the magician felt about those two.

Anti scattered into pixels once more. Maybe they’d gotten away. Wouldn’t hurt to check.

* * *

“I don’t think I can stand up again.”

They weren’t sure how long they’d been walking, but it didn’t really matter. They were hopelessly lost in the woods. Jackie had finally let his legs give way, falling to the ground.

“Come on, you can do it, I know you can,” Chase said, voice strained.

Jackie closed his eyes. “I don’t know if something’s broken or what, but I can’t. It feels like I’ve been set on fire.”

“Alright, fine, I’ll help you, then.” Chase grabbed one of Jackie’s hands. “Come on, we can’t be that far from something. Let’s go, on three. One, two…” He trailed off. “Do you hear that?”

“Hear what?” Jackie opened his eyes, looking for anything odd.

“I don’t know, it sounds like…static.”

There was an electric _snap,_ and suddenly Anti was standing next to Chase. Jackie yelled in surprise, and Chase staggered back, hand going to the borrowed police pistol he’d tucked in his belt.

Anti looked between the two of them. Then he sighed. “Alright. You’ve gone completely the wrong way. And it looks like you’re not gonna be able to walk back to Mirygale, so I guess I can take a shortcut. You have to close your eyes, though.”

“Hang on, what the fuck?” Jackie tried to stand, toppling over before he could. “What are you doing here?!”

“Looking for you, of course.”

“Well, why?” Jackie looked at Chase, who shrugged, obviously confused.

Anti’s eye narrowed. “Because, as much as you dislike me, and as much as I return that, I don’t want you d̛ead̷. Now, you can let me take you back to the city, or you can wander the semi-wilderness for a few hours. What’s it going to be?”

Jackie could only gape. He looked at Chase again, who was still bewildered. “I…guess you can help?”

“Wonderful. Brody, you’re gonna have to carry the self-proclaimed hero here. And remember to close your eyes.”

Chase took his hand off the gun and leaned over, pulling Jackie up and draping his arm over his shoulders. “So…do you know what’s going on?” Chase asked. “Or did you just randomly find us?”

Anti glanced at Chase. “I know more of what’s going on than you do.”

Jackie bristled a bit. “So you know that Marvin tried to kill us?”

Anti laughed. “You can call that ‘Marvin’ if you want to, yes. Now close your eyes.” He reached up and started pulling at the strings of his eye-patch.

Chase quickly shut his eyes, but Jackie didn’t. “Why?”

“Because you don’t want to see what’s _in_ the shortcut.”

“Why?”

“What are you, a five-year-old?” Anti rolled his visible eye. The patch’s strings were now off, but he kept holding the cloth to his eye. “Just let it happen. This is dragging on too long.”

“One last question.” Jackie raised one finger. “Where are you taking us?”

“For now?” Anti sighed. “To the last place I ever wanted you people to step foot in. But desperate times. Now close your eyes.”

Jackie grumbled, but did so. There was a faint sound like electric ripping, and a tingle of energy in the air. Anti grabbed Chase’s hand and guided him forward, pulling Jackie along, too.

Five minutes later, Anti said, “Alright, it should be good to open your eyes now.”

When Chase and Jackie looked again, they were in a room filled with computers, screens mounted on the walls and blinking LED lights. Anti, eye-patch secured once more, stood glaring at them with his arms folded.

“Whoa…” Chase whispered.

“Don’t get used to it,” Anti said. “You’re not staying here long.”

“Hey Mr. Glitch,” Jackie piped up. “Are you going to tell us anything? If you know more than us, are you planning on sharing that?”

Anti hesitated. For a moment, an expression flickered across his face that looked quite out of place. Almost like…worry. Or worse. But then it was gone. “Let’s just fix you guys up. Then we’ll figure out what to do about…this.”

Chase and Jackie exchanged looks. If Anti was worried about something, then that ‘something’ must be really bad. The two of them were wondering the same thing: exactly _what_ had Marvin done?


	28. Void and Null

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anti helps Chase and Jackie recover from Marvin's attack, and explains what, exactly, happened to the magician. Meanwhile, said magician is busy working behind the glitch's back.

“I don’t trust this at all.”

Chase looked over at Jackie. “Why?”

Jackie, sitting on the floor and leaning against a rack of CPUs, waved vaguely at their surroundings. “So, he just shows up, somehow finding us in the middle of nowhere, and takes us to this place filled with computery stuff saying he wants to help, and then never explains anything? And then he just disappears and we don’t see him again? Why? Does he really want to help?”

“Well, I mean, he did give that whole ‘I don’t hate you, but I don’t want you dead’ thing,” Chase shrugged. “Maybe he does really want to help.”

Jackie curled inward, glaring at nothing. He started pulling on his fingers, drawing attention to the handcuffs that he was still wearing. “Something’s fishy about this whole day,” he muttered. “And what even is this place?”

Chase, leaning against the computer rack, looked around the room again. Everything was covered in wires or LED lights, stacks of CPUs and flashing screens mounted on the walls. The only clear spot was a table next to them. “Maybe it’s where he lives,” he suggested. “And I dunno, man, I think if he wanted to kill us he could’ve done it by now. We’re not exactly in top shape.” After all, Jackie was sitting on the floor because he couldn’t walk, and Chase was starting to feel a little dizzy, probably from the blood loss.

“He put you in a _coma_ ,” Jackie emphasized. “Do I need to remind you about that?”

“No, I know, and he could’ve easily killed me instead,” Chase replied. “I just really don’t think he wants us dead.”

The monitors near the room’s entrance fizzled to static. The lights flickered a bit, and Anti walked in. Despite his belief that Anti meant no harm, Chase still found himself standing up straight, suddenly aware of the gun he’d stolen, tucked in his belt. It never hurt to be on guard.

“Alright. I trust you can do this yourself.” Anti reached the nearby table, and put down a few rolls of bandages. “And this is for the burns. You know how to use it.” He placed a glass jar down as well.

“Uh. Thanks.” Chase grabbed one of the bandage rolls, then tossed another one down to Jackie. 

“You wouldn’t happen to have anything to get these off, would you?” Jackie held up his hands. “Still freaking handcuffed. Makes a lot of things difficult.”

Anti paused. “I don’t have anything currently on me for that. I can get something, you’ll just have to wait.” His eye flicked over to Chase. “Though I am wondering how you got yours off.”

“Oh, uh. After the truck exploded, the cop next to me was uh…” Chase tried not to squirm; he felt like he was being interrogated again. “…possibly dead. Definitely not moving. He had the key on his belt. That’s also where I got the gun.”

“Well, I figured that part.” Anti glitched over to the other side of the room, turning his attention to one of the monitors. It seemed he was done with talking to them, for now.

Well. With nothing else to do, Chase decided it was a good idea to start bandaging. He handed the jar of burn salve to Jackie, then pulled up his own shirt and started wrapping. He briefly wondered if there was a way to replace the now-torn shirt, but he supposed not.

Jackie did the same. “What even was that?” Chase could hear him muttering. “It burns, but it didn’t even touch my suit or boots…”

“Magic,” Anti suddenly said, from across the room. “But I don’t know specifics.”

Jackie yelped in surprise. “You could hear that?”

“Of course, there are microphones all over this place. Have them set up in case of break-ins while I’m out,” Anti said. He turned around, looking back at them. “Meaning I can hear everything in here. Including that conversation you two were having about something being up.”

“…ah.” Jackie went very quiet. He looked at Chase. “Hey, stop smirking!”

“Sorry,” Chase said, not stopping at all.

Jackie rolled his eyes, then looked back at Anti. “Well, can you blame me? You hate us, and now you’re helping us? It’s a little suspicious, you know!”

“I _dislike_ you, I don’t hate you,” Anti corrected. “There is a very short list of people I actually hate, and if you were on it, you would not be alive right now. But I don’t hate you. And I don’t want you dead. And that’s why I wasn’t about to let you wander around the forest, bleeding out and letting black magic burn your skin off.”

“Yeah, well, maybe I wouldn’t have been so on edge if you explained one single thing!” Jackie snapped. “Where are we? What are you going to do now that we’re here? And you said you know what’s happening with Marvin, but you haven’t said jack shit about it!”

Anti stared at Jackie, silently. Chase didn’t say anything either, frozen in place and glancing between the two of them. “Alri͟g̴h̡t̶, then,” Anti finally said after a long while. “I was going to wait until you were at least _less_ injured, but if you’re going to be so pissy about it, you can wrap yourself up while I explain.” The world glitched, and suddenly Anti was sitting on top of the table, making Chase jump. “Where do you want to start?”

“Uh…” Jackie was clearly taken aback. He wasn’t used to dealing with a less-than-hostile Anti. “How about…start with…the questions I asked?”

“Fine.” Anti folded his arms. “You asked where you are? Well, you can call this my hub, of sorts. A center of operations. Now, you see what I said earlier about not ever wanting you two here? But I guess you fucking have to be, it’s not like there’s anywhere else you could’ve gone.” He chuckled. “But if you think I’m telling you _where_ this is, you are so wrong.”

“That’s fair,” Chase muttered, now rolling up his sleeve and wincing as it scraped against the bleeding injuries on his arm.

“And what’s going to happen now that you’re here?” Anti continued. “Well, after you two are done getting fixed up—which you’re being awfully slow at, by the way—we’re going to have to figure out a place you can go that’s far away.”

“We could always just…go back to the police?” Chase suggested. “Say we got in a crash and wandered away or something?”

Anti looked at him, raising an eyebrow as he considered him. “Well. Normally I’d agree with you. But I’m pretty sure Marvin would find you there. And I’m sure none of us want that to happen.”

“Oh, and you care about that because you keep saying you don’t want us dead, right?” Jackie drawled. He growled, and hit the floor with both hands. “Why is Marvin even coming after us?! I mean, I know he hates me, but he never tried to _kill_ me before! And…” He trailed off suddenly. “And his magic…it’s…darker now. And his eyes were…different. Everything felt…” He failed to suppress a shudder. “How did that happen? What’s happened to _him?_ What did he do?”

“What did he do?” Anti repeated. For a moment, his sclera seemed to darken to black. He glitched to a standing position. “What did Marvin do? He’s gone and become a Void, that’s what he’s done.”

Jackie and Chase looked at each other, sharing a wide-eyed look. “A…Void?” Chase repeated.

“Sometimes called a Husk,” Anti added. “Or, as I first heard them called, Neamhní. Or Leere, or Kong He, or so many other terms. Every language has a name for them.”

“And what… _is_ a Void, exactly?” Jackie asked hesitantly.

Anti smiled humorlessly. “The general definition of a Void is a human being who’s been consumed by a dark force. But they’re almost always magicians who fell too deep into the black magic pool. It starts to seep into their soul and body. If it stays there long enough, it’ll start to…change a person.”

“That doesn’t sound good,” Chase mumbled. “How would it…change someone? And why did Marvin just now…do this?”

“Well, if there’s one rule to follow when it comes to Voids, it’s that their worst traits overtake any of their better ones.” Anti tilted his head. “And any limitations they placed on themselves get burned away. Imagine a dam getting broken by a sudden flood. Marvin’s anger, his selfish ambition, his willingness to hurt others…it’ll all be increased a hundredfold.” The world broke, and suddenly Anti was back over by the screen. “I can’t say for sure what pushed him over the edge, but I’m willing to bet he finally let go of whatever scraps were holding him back.”

“…wow. Okay.” Using the table, Jackie climbed to his feet, leaning on its surface heavily. “And how powerful would Voids be? Because Marvin fucking…fucking ripped apart a van with his magic. That seems a bit…”

“That’ll fit in with the whole loss-of-limits,” Anti said. The screen was blinking rapidly between different websites. “He’s being fueled by black magic now, instead of his normal magical reserve. He’s free to give his all on every spell, without worrying about the consequences.”

“…and he wants to kill us.” Chase shook his head, swaying on his feet. “Jesus christ. How the fuck do we deal with that?”

“ _You_ don’t have to. _You_ need to find somewhere far away to hide while _I_ deal with this.” The screen stopped flickering for a moment. Anti leaned closer, apparently reading through a few paragraphs of text on whatever site he’d stopped on.

“We can’t just run!” Jackie gaped. “We have to find some way to—”

“Jackie.” Hearing his name come from Anti’s mouth was enough to cut him off. “You barely escaped this time. You were lucky, for whatever reason. Do you really want to test that luck?”

“Well.” Jackie hesitated. “He’s going to hurt people, right? I can’t just sit on the sidelines and not _do_ something to prevent that.”

“Like what?” Anti spun back around to face him. “Would you kill him, like you do everyone else?”

“If it came to that, yes!” Jackie said, straightening. “Would you? If you had to?”

Anti said nothing, standing completely still. The sound of empty static filled the room.

“Jackie,” Chase said, stepping closer to his friend. “I…it’s really…you’re always trying, you know? And that’s something you do really well. But I don’t think we could win this fight. Hell, we probably couldn’t even win a fight with Marvin before all this went down. And I know, you want to…you always want to protect people, but I don’t think we can.” He took a deep breath. “It…it’s not the most noble thing to do, I know. But what else _can_ we do?”

“…I don’t know.” Jackie looked at Chase. “But, like you said, I’m always trying, right? I’m not gonna stop now.”

There was a different expression in Anti’s eye now, something a bit softer as he looked at Jackie. “You determined little bastard,” he muttered. Then he sighed. “Look, under different circumstances, I might let you help. But really. _Really._ You don’t have a chance.”

“Fuck you, what do you know about me?!” Jackie suddenly shouted.

“I know that you can barely walk after this last fight!” Anti snapped back, all traces of anything remotely soft immediately vanishing. “And that you’re apparently on Marvin’s hit list! I’m trying to fucking save your life!”

“Well, maybe I don’t want you to save my life!”

Chase immediately smacked Jackie on the side of the head.

“Ow! What the hell, dude?” Jackie glared at him.

“Don’t fucking throw your life away fighting something impossible!” Chase growled. He grabbed Jackie by the shoulders. “That is probably the stupidest thing you could do. What would we do without you?”

Jackie blinked, and suddenly all traces of anger vanished. “You said ‘we’…” he noticed. He suddenly looked back at Anti. “Hey, uh. That reminds me. Do you think Marvin would, uh…want to kill Schneep? Or Jameson?”

Anti considered. “Well, it would depend on how he felt about them. Marvin was friends with Jackson, so he’s probably—wait.” He cut himself off, looking downward. “If he found out about the—maybe he already found out—oh, in that case, Jackson might not be as okay as I thought.”

Chase and Jackie exchanged glances. “Found out about the what?” Chase asked.

“That’s not important right now,” Anti waved away. “What’s important right now is that Jackson _might_ be in danger.” He groaned. “Which means I have to tell him about it, gods damn it.”

“Not looking forward to that?” Jackie asked, raising an eyebrow.

“A lot’s happening today. I have to deal with you two, I have to talk to Jackson, I have to check on—” Anti stopped. His eye darted toward Chase.

“…Jack?” Chase finished, voice suddenly quiet.

Anti nodded once, not blinking as he stared at Chase.

“How…” Chase cleared his throat. “How is he?”

“Why is that your b̨u̴si͟n̶e͟ss?” Anti asked, voice hissing along the last word.

Chase flinched. “Guess it…it isn’t.”

Anti kept staring. The static from the monitors seemed to burn the air, white noise blanking out the background.

Jackie cleared his throat. “Um. What about Schneep? Would Marvin go after him?”

That seemed to break the tension. Anti broke eye contact, shrugging. “They were on alright terms, right? From what I saw, it was sort of neutral, leaning towards more positive. Unless something changed after you took out my cameras.”

Jackie had almost forgotten they’d done that. “Uh…well, Marvin attacked me once, and Schneep stuck him with a needle to make him stop.”

“That makes things a bit more complicated,” Anti admitted. “I suppose it’s better safe than sorry. Who knows how long Marvin would hold a grudge?” He sighed. “Alright. I’m leaving. You two don’t touch anything, I’ll know if you do.”

“Wait, what?” Jackie blinked. “Where are you going?”

“I’m going to pick up the other two,” Anti said. A few of the screens turned off. “Get you all in one place, so that it’ll be easier to get you all out of here.” He eyed Jackie. “And you _are_ getting out of here.”

Jackie rolled his eyes.

“Don’t touch anything,” Anti repeated. And with a flicker of pixels, he was gone.

After a pause, Chase said, “Do you think I shouldn’t’ve asked about…?”

“Maybe not,” Jackie muttered. He slid to the floor. “Think it just made you look bad to him.”

“Yeah…” Chase shifted on his feet. “You think he would really know if we touched anything?”

“Yes,” Jackie said without hesitation.

“Better not, then.”

“Better not.”

* * *

It had been a rainy morning, and though that had stopped, it was still rather gloomy, with a low ceiling of gray clouds and puddles on the ground. Hardly anyone was out. The only person in sight was a young man, walking down the sidewalk next to the park. Nobody but him was around to see the air shiver and break, a man in a green scarf suddenly appearing next to him.

“I need to talk to you,” Anti said.

{It’s really not my fault he ran away,} Jameson said, not even looking at him, still walking. {I didn’t expect him to catch on. And no, I don’t know where he is now. If you’re going to make me look, well then, I suppose I’m _able_ to, thought I can’t guarantee a warm reception.}

“Not about that.” Anti reappeared in from on Jameson, stopping him. “Look, there’s a possibility that you’re in danger.”

Jameson eyed him. {Is…is that a threat?}

“No!”

{Oh.} The mental voice sounded relieved.

Anti sighed. “I’m trying to warn you. Though I suppose that’s never worked for me before, but maybe this will get through to you. Does Marvin know about the deal?”

{You mean your blackmailing of me? Where you made me turn everyone in, including him?}

“Fine, that. Does he know?”

Jameson looked away. {…yes. I suppose you don’t know, but that’s what I was talking about when you appeared. I thought you found out he managed to evade what I had set up. But it’s clear you don’t.} He looked downward. {So, what? Are you going to ask me to hunt down my friend now?}

Anti took a step back. “Are you…trying to act sympathetic? You’re a bit off your game, I see, you’re usually much better at this.”

{Just tell me what you want!} Jameson snapped.

“Okay, okay!” Anti shook his head. “You’re a bit off in general, I see. Anyway. I’m guessing Marvin wasn’t too happy to hear it? You have a fight?”

{…no. He just left.} Jameson sighed. {It…it was to be expected, honestly.}

That was…not what Anti expected to hear. Surprising. Maybe he’d have to rethink his profile of Marvin.

{Anyway, what does that have to do with this? You need to find him?}

“Well, yes. But also. You need to get out of here.”

{Oh, this is where the danger comes in, I see.} Jameson shrugged. {Don’t suppose you’ll tell me about it?}

“You’ve studied magick,” Anti stated. “So then you’ll know what I mean when I tell you that Marvin’s become a Void.”

Jameson froze, eyes wide as he processed Anti’s statement. Then, slowly, he covered his mouth. {…you’re sure?}

“I am,” Anti confirmed.

Jameson looked down, blinking rapidly. {I-I’m sorry, just…} He turned around, his back to Anti.

“If he’s upset with you, which he might be, then he could come after you,” Anti continued. “He already went after Jackie and Chase. You all need to get somewhere safe.”

There was no answer for a long time. Then: {Why would you care if I die?} The question was quiet. {You threatened to kill me. Didn’t you say I’ve lived long enough?}

“I don’t think you would _just_ die, if the Void got to you,” Anti said. He closed his eye, taking a deep breath. “And say what you will about me, but I don’t want that to happen to you.” Maybe that was some lingering sympathy, but that didn’t make it less true.

Jameson glanced back over at him. {…do you have a plan?}

“I need to find the doctor, see if Marvin had any reason to kill him,” Anti said. “Then all of you need to get out of here.”

{And then what?}

Anti stared at him. “It depends on what it comes to.” And the world froze, and glitched and scattered, and he was no longer there.

* * *

Elsewhere in the city, on the very edge of it, in fact, someone else was sitting at a window, looking out at the sky. Schneep felt like he was going to be spending a lot of time looking through windows. He’d only been here for a few hours and he already hated it. 

He remembered how yesterday Chase had made some comment about how it had to be better than going to jail. It was an attempt to cheer him up, and he appreciated it, but Chase really didn’t understand. To Schneep, this was just another kind of prison. There were rules about having “dangerous” items, people were always watching him, and he couldn’t leave. It was prison, except nobody here believed anything he said.

Schneep sighed, pressing his forehead against the glass. He was currently sitting in what had been introduced to him as the “common area,” which he had to admit was one benefit to being here instead of in a prison. The area was actually kind of nice, with sofas and chairs and a few tables, even if it was a little sparse. But again, it was ruined by the people in beige uniforms gathering in the corners of the room, which he was deliberately avoiding looking at. The injustice of it all nagged at him. He shouldn’t be here! He should be out there, where he could do something! Where he could help! Where—

Something purple flashed outside the window.

He yelled, leaning back and almost falling out of the chair he’d dragged over to the window. That caught the attention of some of the people in beige—the orderlies. “Is everything okay, Henrik?” One of them asked.

“I-I just—” Schneep cut himself off. Actually, probably not a good idea to tell them what he saw. That would just convince them that he was supposed to be there. “Never mind. Is fine.”

“Are you sure?” The orderly asked.

“Yes, I am sure.”

“If you saw something, it would probably be a good idea to tell us. We sometimes get pests on the grounds.”

He squinted at her, partly out of suspicion, but also partly because they’d taken his glasses and he couldn’t read her nametag from this distance. “Well, I thought I saw someone outside.”

“Really?” The orderly walked to the window, peering outside. She smiled at him. “Well, there’s no one there.”

“I know that,” he said irritably. He wasn’t fond of her tone. Speaking slowly, like he couldn’t understand her.

“Thanks for telling us.”

He didn’t say anything in return, instead standing up, and turning to leave.

“Where are you going?”

Schneep sighed. “Just back to my room.”

“I’ll walk you there.”

“You do not need to.”

She smiled again. “Well, in case you lose your way.” A plausible reason, but he suspected it wasn’t the only one.

Another sigh. It wasn’t like he was going to get rid of her either way. “Fine, fine.” 

Only a couple minutes later, they were up on the second floor. The orderly opened the door with yet another smile. He was really starting to hate that. “If you decide to come back downstairs before dinner, please let us know.”

“I know, someone has said that to me three times this morning,” Schneep muttered. He didn’t bother to say goodbye before stepping inside, closing the door behind him.

He turned around, expecting to see an empty room. What he saw instead made him cover his mouth to silence the shriek of surprise that had suddenly come from his throat.

Marvin, sitting on the bed, grinned at him, blinking purple eyes. “ _Hey, Doc,_ ” he said. “ _How’re you settling in?_ ”

“Marvin!” Schneep hissed. “What—how—?”

“ _Magic, of course._ ” 

Schneep gave Marvin a once-over. “What happened to your mask? Why are your eyes purple, and leaking?”

Marvin chuckled, and stood up, swaying unsteadily for a moment before recovering his balance. “ _It’s amazing, isn’t it? There’s so much power, you can see it all the time now. But we can discuss that later. I need you._ ”

“For what?” Schneep straightened, trying to recover from his initial shock.

“ _Weeeell. Well well well well well._ ” Marvin suddenly laughed. “ _It’s a funny story, really. I’ve been shot! Twice!_ ”

“What?!” Schneep walked over, looking over Marvin once again. Now that he was over the initial sight, he could see two bloodstains, one on Marvin’s upper left arm, one on his right side. “What happened?”

“ _Funny story! And by that, I mean not at aaaaall. I’ll tell you later._ ” Marvin grabbed Schneep’s arm, pulling him closer. “ _I need you to get them out._ ”

“I mean, I can do that,” Schneep said, leaning back. “But I need equipment, and I’m sure you can tell there’s nowhere in this place that would have that.”

“ _Hm. In that case._ ” Marvin’s eyes flared violet. “ _Who’s up for a jailbreak?_ ”

And before Schneep could answer, there was a burst of dark smoke. And when it cleared, there was no one in the room at all.


	29. All in the Past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anti scrambles to keep up with the situation, while Jameson tells Chase and Jackie about his history with the glitch. Meanwhile, Schneep realizes he may have been mistaken in trusting Marvin.

The sound of static briefly filled the room. Jackie, sitting against the nearest computer rack, opened his eyes and looked up just in time to see Anti materialize in the middle of the room. “So…how’d it go?” Jackie asked slowly.

Anti glanced down at him, then over to Chase, who was sitting on top of the table. It was hard to read his expression, but his body was glitching erratically, on the fritz. “Minor setback,” he said. “We’re leaving. Stand up.”

Jackie rolled his eyes. “Don’t tell us what’s going on or anything,” he muttered, getting to his feet. His legs still hurt, but they no longer felt like they were being burned by acid. Chase shot him a look, also standing. Jackie made a face back.

“I heard that,” Anti said, in the process of untying the strings of his eye-patch. “You need to close your eyes again, we’re going through another shortcut.”

“Well where are we going?” Jackie demanded. “You know we might be more inclined to listen if we knew what was happening! What’s the progress with finding the others? What’s Marvin up to next? Tell us, god damn it!”

All the monitors in the room suddenly turned off, leaving silence behind. A moment later, they turned back on in unison, screens showing static. An electronic whine pierced the air. Anti dropped his hands to his side and stared at Jackie. Something seemed to _shift._ Jackie fought the urge to shrink back. “I know you think I have endless amounts of patience,” Anti said, a hiss following his voice like white noise. “But I don’t. And I am two smart remarks from knocking you out and d͝rag̡g͏i̢n͏g your unconscious body through the gap between worlds. So shut up and close your eyes so I can open up the shortcut.”

Jackie pressed against the computer rack. He looked over at Chase again, who sighed, as if to say ‘what were you expecting?’ He turned back to Anti. “Um. Alright.”

“Good.” The electric whine died down, and Anti continued untying his patch. “Now let’s go.”

* * *

The journey through the shortcut was much shorter than last time, only about thirty seconds. When Jackie next opened his eyes, he was standing in a small living room. The furniture and decorations were distinctly old-fashioned, with bookshelves lining the walls and a boxy TV on a table across from a sofa. It didn’t look familiar, but it…somehow felt familiar.

And then there were several loud thunks, and Jackie whirled around, halfway into a defensive position before he noticed that Jameson was standing in the doorway to the room, staring at them with wide eyes. Several books were on the floor in front of him, like he’d been carrying a stack and dropped it upon seeing them.

“Um. Hi?” Jackie said.

“Sup.” Chase waved.

Jameson’s eyes shot to Anti. {What are you three doing here?}

“Well, I _told_ you that you guys were in danger.” Anti shrugged. “So you’re all going to stay here for a bit.”

{Are you sure that’s a good idea?} Jameson asked.

“Wait, yeah,” Chase said. “Why can’t we stay in that hub place of yours?”

Anti glared at Jameson. “Yeah, no. You two are okay, _not_ him. So you’re staying here.”

“Wait, what about Schneep?” Jackie realized.

{But Marvin knows about this place!} Jameson protested at the same time.

“This’ll only be a quick stop before I find something better,” Anti explained. “If the Void starts to notice this place, I can take you guys somewhere else. I need to…take care of a couple things.”

“But what about Henrik?!” Jackie repeated, trying to keep an edge of panic out of his voice. “Why isn’t he—did something happen to him? Is he okay?!”

Anti didn’t answer right away. “He’s probably physically fine,” he finally said.

Jackie’s pulse skyrocketed. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?!”

Anti sighed, looking up towards the ceiling. “Alright, fine. It means that the Void somehow got ahold of him and disappeared and I need to go find him before something happens. Is that what you wanted to hear?”

Jackie spluttered. “Well, clearly not!”

“We’re now down to one smart remark before you lose your right to consciousness,” Anti said calmly.

Jackie shut his mouth. He took a few steps away from Anti, and took a deep breath. “I’m just…I can help. I know I’m not…gonna be good at fighting Marvin in this state, but I can…I-I don’t know, be a distraction or something.” He paused. “If you’ll just…I can’t just sit here. Let me help. Please?”

Anti stared at him quietly, saying nothing one way or the other. And then he turned away. “This shouldn’t take more than half an hour, at most. Just stay in the building and you’ll be fine.”

Jackie tried not to show his heart sinking. He wanted to shout, to yell that he wasn’t useless and to stop shoving him to the sidelines! But he also didn’t want to get knocked out by an annoyed glitch, so he sighed, and went to sit down on the couch.

“What if someone shows up?” Chase asked.

“Then you leave, of course.” Anti’s eye swept the room. “After all, this place doesn’t look too defen—” He suddenly stopped. His eye had locked onto one of the shelves.

Jameson followed his gaze, and once he saw what he was looking at, he stiffened.

Anti glitched over to the shelf in question. He reached forward and picked up a small, old-fashioned radio, turning it over in his hands. It switched on, as if responding to him, flickering through static channels. He turned to look at Jameson. “You still have this?” He sounded…surprised.

{Yes,} Jameson said shortly, folding his arms. He was not making eye contact.

Anti looked back at the radio, holding it a while longer before shaking his head, putting it back in its spot on the shelf. “Why?”

Jameson coughed into his hand, not answering. Anti stared at him with a peculiar expression. Chase and Jackie looked back and forth between the two of them, equally confused. After too long a silence, Jameson said, {I don’t suppose that, since there’s danger coming, you’d let me have my watch back?}

Anti’s expression snapped closed. “No,” he growled. “I’ll be going now. Be seeing you.” And he fizzled into pixels and disappeared.

Jameson sighed. It was worth a shot.

“…wait a second.” Chase took a step back. “Wait a—do you two _know_ each other?!”

{Of course we do, it would be impossible to not run into him, living with you four,} Jameson replied. He walked over to the radio, fiddling with the dials.

“I mean before that!” Chase said, exasperated. “He said ‘you still have this?’ like it was something you’ve had for a long time!”

{Had it for nearly a century now, yes. It’s in amazing condition for being so old.} Jameson shut the radio off, abruptly cutting off the static noise.

Chase looked at him expectantly. “Well? Do you know him or not?”

Jameson closed his eyes, rubbing his temples with both hands. {Yes.} The word came across softly, nearly too quiet even for a thought. {You can imagine my surprise, can’t you? When I talked to Jack and heard he had a friend named Anti. And looking in his memories, it soon became clear it was the same person. Amazing coincidence, really. Or maybe that’s fate, of some sort.}

“How the hell do you know the glitch bitch?!” Jackie gaped.

Jameson wheezed suddenly, a voiceless laugh. {That’s a new one.}

“Thanks, I came up with it just now,” Jackie said. “But…how? He’s all computery, how can you have known him for…nearly a century, was it?”

{Well, he wasn’t computery back then,} Jameson mused. {I think he must adapt to advancing technology. When I knew him, he’d lurk inside the telephone lines, the radio waves—and the frames of film.}

“Okay, but…but how did you meet?” Chase asked. “You two are so…” he trailed off, looking for a good word. “Oppositely goaled.”

“Those were _not_ words,” Jackie said with a grin.

“You get the point!”

Jameson didn’t answer for a while, crossing the room to sit in an armchair. Chase followed, and sat by Jackie on the sofa. {Well…} Jameson mused. {It started with my first studying of magick. I was curious, you understand. I found, in a book, an old sort of summoning ritual. I never expected it to have such…visible results.}

“But you two sounded like you had a history,” Chase insisted. “It couldn’t have been just an accidental summoning.”

{That was just the beginning, let me finish,} Jameson said patiently. He sighed, leaning forward. {Do you two know…did you ever wonder why Jack had a glitch friend? Did you ever wonder how _they_ met? Or why Anti looked so much like him?}

“I mean…I guess not,” Jackie admitted.

{Those two share a connection,} Jameson explained. {A commensal relationship. Anti needs a human host to remain connected to this plane in a physical form…well, mostly physical. Otherwise he’s just energy, and can’t do much. That’s why he looks like Jack. Jack is his host.}

Chase narrowed his eyes. “And…you know this because…?”

{Well, Anti is an old spirit. There had to have been hosts before Jack, right?}

Jackie’s eyes widened. “Wait. Waaaaait a second. You’re saying that you—that _you_ were—?!”

Jameson gave a small smile. {Exactly. Jack’s predecessor.}

“Oh my god,” Jackie whispered.

“That’s…that’s a hell of a coincidence,” Chase said, shaking his head.

{I’m wondering if it’s something more,} Jameson said. {What are the odds that you’d find a hypnotist who was closely familiar with your problem?}

Jackie suddenly frowned. “So…what happened?”

{I beg your pardon?}

“Well, you’re not his host anymore,” Jackie explained. “Something must’ve happened. Does he just not…get attached for too long?”

Jameson leaned back, looking down at his hands in his lap. {We…had a fight,} he said slowly. {He didn’t like what I was doing with my magick.}

“Can’t imagine why,” Jackie muttered.

{He said I was heading to a dark place,} Jameson continued. {And that he’d tried to warn me against it, but I’d never listened. I remember…I remember that I could see what he meant, back then. But I didn’t stop. So he gave up trying to warn me, and just left.}

Neither Chase or Jackie had anything to say to that. The silence weighed heavy on the room.

After what felt like ages, Jameson stood up. {So. It seems that you’re going to be here for a while. Is there anything you need? I can send someone for something.}

“No, I’m good,” Chase said, shaking his head. “Jackie?”

“Thanks, but I don’t need anything,” Jackie said. “Guess we’ll…wait.”

“Don’t sound so upset about it.” Chase leaned back. “At least we’re not dead. And I’m not sure I want to be walking around when I was bleeding severely, like, ten minutes ago.”

“That’s fair,” Jackie admitted. “Maybe we can…recover. A bit.” He looked down at his hands. “And can someone _please_ find some way to help me get this cuffs off?”

Jameson smirked. {I’m sure I have something that’ll help with that. I’ll send someone to go look and then I’ll…go pick up my books.}

“I’d offer to help with that, but…cuffs,” Jackie remarked. “Also, uh, sorry if we scared you into dropping those.”

{I was just surprised, it’s quite alright.}

Chase sighed, leaning back into the sofa and closing his eyes. “And so begins the next bit of waiting.”

* * *

Anti found himself considering his priorities. He had two tasks before him, maybe three. One was considerably farther away, but distance wasn’t a factor to him. So he found himself first heading towards the one that would, hopefully, take less time.

He materialized in kitchen, early morning light coming through a set of glass doors. “Jack, I need to talk to you.”

Jack, previously leaning on the kitchen counter, yelped, jerking to a standing position. But then he realized it was Anti and relaxed. “Dude, don’t do that,” he laughed, running a hand through his hair. Sam, perched on his shoulder, shot up and flew over to Anti, circling his head. “You scared me.”

“Sorry,” Anti said curtly. “But this is important.” Sam bumped into his cheek. “Yes, hi Sam. Good to see you, too.”

“So how important is it?” Jack asked. “It is…ass o’clock in the morning and I’m tired.”

“Why are you in the kitchen, then?”

“Getting my dirty bean water, dude,” Jack gestured to the coffee maker on the counter.

“No, I mean, as opposed to being asleep,” Anti clarified. “If you’re tired. You know you don’t have to get up this early, right?”

“I do. I’m just…trying to get back to the schedule I want,” Jack said. “Before getting back into making videos. Trying to…make this whole process mine. Again, I mean.”

“That’s great,” Anti said, nodding.

“Anyway, you said this was important?” Jack asked.

“Yes, very.” Anti tilted his head. “You know how you were planning on flying back later this week?”

“Yes.” Jack’s eyes narrowed. “…why?”

“You need to cancel that,” Anti said bluntly. “Something happened. It’s not…safe.”

Jack took a step back. “Why?” He repeated. He seemed to shrink a little in worry.

“Well…” Anti tugged on his scarf. “I’m short on time to explain, but basically, Marvin lost it. He’s dangerous, and he…might come after you.”

“Dangerous? You mean, even more so than before?” Jack laughed, but it quickly died when Anti continued to stare, dead serious. “Oh. Oh, it’s bad, isn’t it?”

“Yeah.”

Jack bit his lip. “I don’t know if I can cancel it. The flight’s in six days, will this…still be a problem, then?”

“…I’m not sure,” Anti admitted. Voids were unpredictable; it was part of why they were so dangerous. If it was Marvin on a rampage, he would say it would be wrapped up before then, but it wasn’t. It was something else, something a lot more powerful, with motives he couldn’t grasp yet.

“I’ll check to see if I can cancel,” Jack suggested. “But I don’t know. Maybe if this is still a thing by the flight time, I just won’t show up.”

“That would be ideal.”

“Are…you gonna take care of this by yourself?” Jack asked tentatively. “‘Cause I-I don’t know if I can help, but if I can…” He trailed off. Sam flew back over to his shoulder, nuzzling against his neck.

“Thanks for the offer,” Anti said, voice softening, “but it would be best to stay safe.”

Jack nodded slowly. “Okay. Just…keep it in mind.”

“I will.”

And Anti disappeared again. That was done. Now, onto the more difficult task. The search for this Void.

* * *

_Clink. Clink._

Two bits of metal sat in a small glass dish, each covered in dark blood. Schneep set down the tweezers he’d been holding and sighed, rubbing his eyes. There. Bullets out. It hadn’t been an easy removal. Marvin had teleported the two of them back to Schneep’s clinic, only to find the police had taken a lot of the equipment. It was luck that they hadn’t found the backup storage room, so they still had something to work with. But painkillers hadn’t been among the supplies, so there was that. Though Marvin hadn’t seemed to mind too much about that.

“I have some bandages here,” Schneep said, reaching toward a roll on the counter. But it disappeared in a puff of dark smoke before he could grab it.

“ _I can do that myself._ ”

Schneep turned around, facing the clinic at large. Marvin had been sitting on the only remaining operating table, but now he was standing. He had his sleeve rolled up, and was in the process of bandaging the bullet wound on his upper left arm. “If you insist.”

“ _I do._ ” Marvin flashed a smile at Schneep, purple irises flashing in the light from the overhead lamp. His eyes were still dripping black…liquid. Schneep still had no idea what that was. “ _So, Doc, how’ve you been? Enjoying your new stay?_ ”

“Ha!” Schneep laughed. “If by enjoy you mean the exact opposite. They took my glasses! Can you believe that? And they gave me this stupid bracelet.” Schneep shook his left hand, making the white plastic bracelet he was wearing rattle around his wrist. “Is supposed to have information on it, I know this, but it is full of lies.”

Marvin laughed. “ _Ah, Schneep. You know that crazy people never think they’re crazy._ ”

“What does that have to do with anything?” Schneep shook his head. “Ah, never mind.” He fell silent for a moment, watching Marvin. “Who shot you, anyway? Who would do that?”

“ _Some police officer. Dead now._ ” Marvin rolled down his sleeve again, covering the new bandaging. He moved on to the wound on his torso, pulling up his shirt. “ _And Chase Brody._ ”

“What?!” Schneep stood up straight. “Why would Chase shoot you? You two are alright, I thought.”

“ _Oh, you thoooought. That changes everything._ ” Marvin scowled, dark liquid dripping from his eyes onto his pants. “ _Chase Brody,_ ” he spat. “ _Fucking Chase. ‘Hey Marvin, how are you? I don’t care, come help me with my stupid obsession with a guy who’ll abandon me at the first moment of lucidity. Learn a whole new type of magic that you’re not good at, and I’ll constantly tell you it’s still not good enough! Now I’m in a coma, ‘cause I can’t fucking handle myself! You won’t miss me at all! I’m totally useless!’ Fuck him._ ” Marvin finished the bandaging, pulling his shirt back into place. A smile twisted his face. “ _Wouldn’t have minded if he died in the crash. He should’ve impaled himself on some shrapnel!_ ” 

Schneep, who’d been staring at Marvin in silent shock during this tirade, suddenly shook himself. “What crash?”

Marvin didn’t answer immediately. He was staring off into the middle distance, letting his head slowly list to the side. He was smiling. “ _It was amazing, really,_ ” he finally said. “ _I didn’t know I could do something like that. Could I have done it all along? Why didn’t I? I should’ve sooner!_ ”

“Do what?” Schneep repeated. He found himself leaning back, and he wasn’t sure why.

“ _I wrecked it. In one go! Just a little bit of time to charge it up, and then BAM!_ ” Marvin snapped, small purple-black fires falling from his fingers. “ _Shredded car!_ ” 

“You crashed a car?!” Schneep said incredulously. “Wait—do you mean the one Chase and Jackie were supposed to be on this morning?”

Marvin nodded.

“Why?!”

“ _I was in the area. And they were passing through. It was just too perfect!_ ” Marvin flicked his fingers. Drops of dark purple flew off with each motion. Where they landed, they sizzled into the surface. “ _I had to be careful. So caaaaaareful. To hit the car in just the right place, so it wouldn’t kill Jackie before I could. No no no, that would be too fast._ ” A sharp laugh. Like broken glass dripping poison. “ _Nooo, I need to take my time with Mr. Jackieboy. He ruins it all. I know he tried to stop me from getting to Jack. And that’s not the first time he got in my way. Constantly, every time, all the time. Doesn’t he have anything better to do? Oh wait, he does. He goes out in the night and kills criminals, and then he comes back all goody-two-shoes, like he’s too proud to admit he’s just crawling along the underbelly of the city like the rest of us. Cling to your ‘morals,’ murderer. Then act like you’re better than all the rest of us for it. Well, not anymore. Not anymooooore! You were brought just as low, and I’ll drag you down even lower._ ”

Schneep didn’t realize he’d been backing up until his back hit the edge of the table. He tensed, not taking his eyes off Marvin. What…what _happened_ to him? He knew he hated Jackie but this venom in his voice was more than that. This was an all-consuming loathing. He could see it burning in the purple-black depths of his eyes. Something was very, very wrong. But he forced a smile on his face anyway. “Well, you have good luck with that. I should say thank you, for getting me out of there. I have work to do.” He started slowly edging around the room, trying to appear casual, but not daring to turn his back.

Marvin’s head snapped toward him. His eyes were now completely purple. “ _You two are friends, right?_ ”

Schneep froze. “We a-are…more work friends than what you are thi-thinking,” he stammered. “I just fix him up.”

“ _Hmmm?_ ” Marvin turned to face him, swaying and almost losing his balance. “ _Then why do I remember you helping him when I tried to get him the first time?_ ”

Schneep stayed frozen for a split-second more. And then he bolted for the door.

“ _Nope!_ ”

There was a puff of dark smoke around him, and suddenly Schneep was back in the center of the room, tripping over the table, staring at Marvin’s face just inches from his own. He yelped, throwing himself backwards and tripping over his own feet, landing on the floor. He didn’t have much time to recover before purple-black light was falling towards him, and he had to scramble out of the way just in time, barely managing to get to his feet.

He was standing by the overhead lamp. In a rush, he grabbed it by the stand and tipped it over, pushing the light onto Marvin, who yelled in surprise and went to dodge. Schneep took the opportunity to run for the door again, picking up a scalpel when he passed a nearby table. He was only a few steps away from the door when a puddle of violet light suddenly crept across the floor, flowing vertically up the wall and along the edges where the door met the frame. Where the pool of dark light touched, the frame melted into the door, running together until they looked like they’d been welded together. Schneep tugged at the doorknob desperately, but there was no way the door could open now.

Okay. Okay, there were other ways into the room, but Marvin was standing in the center, essentially in the way of them all. Schneep spun around to see Marvin smirking, as if he knew there was no way out without getting around him. Schneep swallowed nervously, eyes darting around the room. And then he ran forward.

Marvin laughed, raising a hand covered in black violet light. But when Schneep was just a few feet from him, he dove, crawling under the operation table in the center. Marvin audibly gasped, thrown off for long enough to Schneep climb out from under and dart toward the next door.

And there was a shriek of rage. Dark smoke appeared in the doorway, and when it cleared, Marvin was there. Schneep skidded to a halt. Marvin’s hand darted forward and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt. Panicking, Schneep drove the scalpel he’d been holding into Marvin’s arm, but he barely flinched, just hissing in anger. “ _ **What.** Are you trying to do?_”

Schneep realized he was shaking, but he couldn’t stop. This was wrong, wrong, wrong. Things were not supposed to turn out this way. This wasn’t how it worked. Marvin shouldn’t be like this. Where were the others? Why weren’t they here? He had the feeling they’d gone somewhere, but he couldn’t remember. “Tu mir nicht weh,” he whispered.

Marvin seemed to understand the basics of what he was trying to say. A smile twisted his face. “ _No, don’t worry. You’re good to have around, you know. For patching up. But I can tell. I can just tell you’re going to keep trying to leeeeave. And I can’t have that, I can’t._ ”

He couldn’t breathe. It was going too fast, too fast to control. His eyes were darting around, looking for anything else to see other than those violet eyes staring at him. No! Stop it! He was clawing at the hands holding him, but they weren’t reacting.

“ _You looked scared. I know what that looks like. We should both calm down, okay? Let’s calm down._ ”

Arms wrapped around him, pinning his arms to his sides. He wriggled against it, but they wouldn’t let go. There was purple everywhere, light made of shadows. He couldn’t get away. No no no, this wasn’t how it should be. This wasn’t how it should be!

A hand pressed two fingers against his temple. Dark purple lightning raced along them and into his head, and next thing he knew, everything went dark.

Marvin smiled. That had gone well. Now, if history was to be any indication, he had maybe a few minutes before that glitch showed up. God, that glitch. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to find a way to kill him, or if he wanted to take him apart and find out what magic made him that way.

But now wasn’t the time for either of those options. Maybe later. For now? He had to get home with his new…companion.

Once again, dark smoke filled a room, and when it cleared the space was empty, leaving nothing behind but the dark remnants of blackest magic.


	30. They All Go Down

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With help from Jameson, Anti finally tracks down Marvin and confronts him, confident he can take him. But is that confidence unfounded?

“Where _a̕rę_ you?!” Anti screamed.

This was impossible. He’d been all over the city, scanned all the cameras, monitored all local online activity for anything unusual, and found absolutely _no_ trace of Marvin. The closest he’d gotten so far was arriving in the doctor’s clinic. He now stood in the center of the main room, looking around at the clear signs of a struggle. Even if he hadn’t been able to taste the sharp residue of Void magic in the air, he could see items knocked over, and the melted mess surrounding the room’s doors, like they’d been welded shut.

Anti found he was grinding his teeth. He didn’t have time for a trail-and-error wild goose chase. The sooner the Void was stopped, the better. And who knew what he was doing to Schneep? Anti might not be the doctor’s biggest fan, but damn it if he was going to let Marvin get away with doing whatever he wanted.

He had to think carefully. Where would Marvin have gone? Did he have some sort of secondary location? Anti had no idea. Marvin hadn’t exactly been the most open person, not even storing that much information on his personal computer. Wise, actually, when one’s trying to hide from a glitch. But maybe…there was someone who would have a lead of some sort.

Anti sighed. Why was everything leading back to _him?_ Well, no time like the present. The sooner he could get this over with, the sooner he could get back on track. The world glitched, and he disappeared.

* * *

{This would be a lot faster if you would stop fidgeting.}

“Sorry, I can’t help it.”

{Well, try to help it,} Jameson remarked wryly. {It’s hard to pick a lock when it’s wiggling around.}

Jackie sighed, settling down in his position on the sofa. He proceeded to do his best impression of a statue. Jameson, sitting next to him, nodded, and continued to poke at the lock on the handcuffs with the pin he’d found. Jackie watched quietly for a bit, then broke the silence. “How’d you learn to undo handcuffs anyway?”

{I’ve been around for a long time, Jackie,} Jameson said, not looking up. {And in a lot of dangerous situations. You learn things.} His brows furrowed in concentration. {These used to be easier to undo. You wouldn’t need anything more than a straight enough bit of metal, jam it in the right place and five seconds later any cuffs would immediately unlock. I suppose they caught on to that and made it more difficult accordingly.}

“Good for them,” Jackie muttered. “Bad for me.”

There was a soft click, and Jameson brightened. {There we are!} He pulled away.

“Oh, thank fuck.” Jackie shook the cuffs off and promptly threw them across the room. He rubbed his wrists. “I was getting real sick of those.”

Chase, sitting in an armchair nearby, watched the cuffs fly over his head and hit the wall. “You want to keep those? Could come in handy.”

“Hmm maybe,” Jackie considered. “But you know what? I don’t even want to look at them right now.”

“That’s fair.”

The air rippled, and a second later Anti glitched into the room, scowling. Jackie shot to his feet. “What happened? Where’s Henrik? Did you see Marvin?”

Anti didn’t answer any of those questions. Instead, his eye locked on Jameson. “I need to talk to you. Now.”

Jameson got to his feet slowly. {About what?}

“Let’s go into a different room so I can tell you.”

Jameson glanced at Jackie and Chase. The two of them shrugged, almost in unison, and Jameson sighed. {Alright. Let’s go into the kitchen.}

The kitchen was connected to the living room through a simple doorway. It was neat and clean, and overall not too interesting. Anti closed the door behind them before saying, “I need to know anywhere Marvin could’ve ended up.”

Jameson started. {Excuse me?}

“Anywhere he would’ve gone,” Anti said bluntly. “A second house, apartment, abandoned warehouse, anything. He’s avoiding the city cameras, probably by teleporting everywhere. I can’t find him.”

{And you think I can?} Jameson asked, gaping. {You think he’d have told me any of that?}

“Yes.”

Jameson folded his arms, glaring. He said nothing for a while, having a one-sided staring contest with a glitch who didn’t blink. {And…you expect me to tell you? You already had me turn him over to you once!}

“Yes, I fully expect you to do that,” Anti snapped. “Precisely because you’ve already done it. I doubt you’d suddenly change your behavior so quickly, and clearly you’ve abandoned your sense of loyalty.”

Jameson hissed, the closest sound he could make to a growl. {What do you know about human behavior?}

“More than you.” Anti’s eye flashed. “I’m twenty times older than you, Jackson. I’ve met a lot more people, and I’ve been inside their heads, too. That _includes_ yours.”

{Things change.} Jameson pursed his lips. {Maybe I’ll make it up to Marvin by not giving away anything to you now.}

“Marvin isn’t ar͟oưnd̢ anymore. What’s left of him is going to cause havoc until we stop it.”

Jameson stiffened. For a moment, hurt flashed across his eyes. Then his expression hardened. {We’re done here,} he said. {If you would please get out of my house.}

Anti said nothing for a moment. Then he sighed. “Alright. Fine. Guess I’m doing this now.” He reached to the side, grasping about as if looking for something. For a moment, his hand disappeared into a pocket of glitches. And when he pulled it back, a fine chain was wrapped around his fingers, a silver disk dangling in the air.

Jameson stilled, eyes locked on the watch. His eyes flicked back to Anti. {You wouldn’t,} he said, disbelievingly.

“I would. And I am.” Anti flicked his wrist and sent the watch spinning. “I’m not happy about it, but you know what they say about desperate times. Tell me anything you know about any possible location the Void could be, and you get it back.”

Jameson remained silent, eyes shifting back to the watch. His hands curled into fists by his sides. Anti waited, letting the watch swing. After a long moment, Jameson closed his his eyes. His shoulders slumped. {There’s a cabin in the forest outside of town.} His mental voice sounded hollow. {I don’t know precisely where, but I know it exists. Marvin lived there before he moved in with us. Maybe he would’ve gone back there. I don’t think there’s anywhere else.}

Anti nodded. That was a start. He uncurled the chain from around his fingers, and tossed the watch at Jameson, who caught it against his chest. “This shouldn’t take more than an hour,” Anti said. “If it does, I’ll be back.”

Jameson looked down at the watch, expression unreadable. He nodded.

Static gathered around Anti, but he paused, half-translucent. He tilted his head to the side. “What happened to you, Jameson Jackson?” He asked, voice quiet, and oddly soft.

Jameson shrugged, avoiding eye contact. He didn’t answer.

And after a moment more, Anti disappeared.

* * *

‘Cabin in the woods around the city’ wasn’t exactly a narrow place to start looking. But it was a lead, and that was better than nothing. Luckily, Anti could travel fast when he wasn’t confined to a body. If anyone was in the forest, they wouldn’t be able to see the cloud of energy weaving between the trees, though they might be left with a feeling of being watched, the hairs on the back of their neck standing up like there was an electrical storm coming.

Perhaps ten minutes passed before Anti found the clearing.

It was a circle of dead earth, the ground devoid of vegetation, the soil gray and rocky. The circle of barren earth was perhaps twenty feet in diameter, the trees around it black and bare, some of them crashed to the ground. Their branches bent away from the center. The air in the clearing was silent and still, pressing heavily on anyone who stepped inside.

Anti fizzled into physical form briefly, looking around the dead circle. This place was practically dripping with darkness. Like a black hole of dark magic, sucking life out of anything in its boundaries. Anti walked to the center, and looked down. There was a dark stain on the ground that smelled of copper and sour magic. He shook his head.

There was a trail of dead-looking vegetation leading away from the clearing, through the woods. Anti shifted out of physical form and followed it through the trees, until he found the walls of a small house, hidden in the woods. It wasn’t far. Someone could’ve run the distance.

The cabin couldn’t have been more than three rooms. It might’ve been a nice place to stay once, but had been left abandoned for some time. The walls were dirty, the roof was missing tiles. There were windows, of course. But they’d been covered up from the inside, with what looked like sheets or blankets.

Anti manifested in front of the cabin’s door. He reached forward and tried to turn the knob, unsurprised to find it locked. His hand glitched, and then he was holding a knife with a thin blade. It slid in the gap between the door and the doorframe easily, and some effort later, he pushed the door open.

The inside was dark, the sheets covering the walls preventing any afternoon light from coming in through the windows. But Anti could see fine. He stepped inside, leaving the door open. The main room of the cabin was probably meant to be a living room, with an attached kitchenette. But the furniture was destroyed. Broken bookcases, upholstered chairs bleeding stuffing, a glass coffee table that seemed to have shattered. Wherever the furniture had been cracked or slashed open, the broken bits glowed purple. There were three doors along the edges of the room, all closed.

A small sound came from the corner of the room.

Anti tensed, gripping his knife tighter. He crossed the room slowly, weaving around broken bits of wood and metal. There was a chair tilted over on its side, partially hiding the corner from view. Anti leaned over the chair, half-raising his knife in preparation.

There was a radiator attached to the wall. Why the house designers had decided to place it in the corner, Anti didn’t know. And he didn’t care. His attention was taken by the man slumped against the radiator. “Henrik,” he said softly.

Schneep looked in Anti’s direction with wide eyes, not quite making eye contact in the dark room. His hands were tied to the pipe connecting the radiator—thankfully off—to the wall with what looked like strips of cloth. The position was awkward and uncomfortable-looking, with his arms raised behind his head. He mumbled something, words difficult to understand through the cloth in his mouth.

Anti dropped the knife, glitching it away before it hit the floor. “Alright. You probably don’t trust me, but I’m going to get you out of here. Okay?” He reached forward, but Schneep cried out, kicking at his hand. Anti sharply withdrew. “Alright, then.”

He backed up, looking around the room. There was a window nearby, hidden behind a sheet. He glitched over to it and pulled the sheet away, ripping it from the masking tape holding it in place. Light from outside, though cloudy and gray, still managed to flood the dark room. Anti glitched back over, now kneeling next to Schneep. “Hey, look, you can actually see what’s going on now. Better?”

Schneep stared at Anti, breathing heavily. He looked mostly unharmed, except for a spot on the side of his forehead, where there were a few purple marks crawling along his veins. That was probably a bad sign.

Anti reached forward again, and this time Schneep didn’t try to push him away, letting him pull at the gag until it came free. “Alright, what’s going on?” Anti asked. “Did you get hurt? How do you feel?”

For a moment, Schneep just stared at him. Then he slowly shook his head. “Nein, not hurt,” he mumbled. “Feel…wo sind all die anderen?”

“They’re safe, don’t worry,” Anti said. He wasn’t sure how much he wanted to say, in case things went south. Probably not a good idea to let slip the location of the people that Marvin most wanted to kill. “I’m going to take you to them.”

“Good. Good, good.” Schneep’s eyes darted around the room. A few tears slipped past, and he made a slight whimpering sound. “Ich will nicht hier sein.”

“Well, you won’t be for much longer.” Anti started struggling with the cloth tying Schneep’s hands to the radiator. It was more difficult than he thought; the knots were pulled tight. After a while, he grunted in frustration and pulled back. This was taking too long. He reached to the side, and his knife glitched into his hand. “Don’t move,” he warned.

Schneep caught sight of the blade and immediately cried out, trying to pull away but finding it difficult. “No, Jack, bitte tu mir—I-I am sorry, you do not have to do this!”

Anti blinked. “What? What do you think—I’m not going to hurt you.”

The words didn’t seem to register with Schneep as he buried his face in his shoulder. “It was their idea, nicht meine. Do not—bitte, die lila Augen—”

“Purple eyes?” Anti’s eye narrowed. That was a reminder that they needed to get out of here. “I don’t have time for this,” he sighed, and began sawing at the cloth strips with the knife. Schneep kept struggling, crying out in a mix of English and German. By the time Anti was done, he’d ended up cutting through Schneep’s skin as well as the cloth in several places. “Alright, we’re going. Come on.” And with that, he grabbed Schneep by the arm and unceremoniously pulled him to his feet, dragging him towards the door.

“Nein!” Schneep planted his feet, refusing to move further. “Not that way! Sie werden dich fangen!“

Anti groaned. “Okay, fine. I guess I’ll open the shortcut right here.” He started untying the strings of his eye-patch, keeping hold of Schneep with one hand. “You’ll have to close—”

One of the doors swung open.

“ _What’s going on here?_ ”

Anti spun in the direction of the voice, his knife already out. Marvin was standing in the now-open doorway, head tilted to the side, eyes glowing violet. Anti’s skin shuddered into static as he felt the Void’s magic drip down his spine. Schneep made a small, fearful sound and ducked behind Anti. “I think you know exac̷t̡l͢y what’s going on here,” Anti said in a low voice.

Marvin grinned; it was more a baring of teeth than anything. “ _You don’t get to come in here and take my doctor away the same way you took Jack._ ”

“Hmm, don’t I?” Anti glared. “You’re not really taking good care of him, are you? Why’d you even decide to tie him to the wall? If you want a doctor, seems like a bad idea to prevent him from doctoring.”

“ _Don’t be an idiot, you know he was going to leave,_ ” Marvin hissed. “ _And he wouldn’t shut up about those voices. Veeery distracting._ ”

“Well, in that case, let me take the distraction off your hands.” Anti’s hand darted upward to his eye-patch, pulling.

Marvin shrieked, and a burst of purple-black magic shot towards Anti, who pushed Schneep to the ground and glitched away at the last moment. The magic splattered against the opposite wall, eating away at the plaster.

Anti reformed, crouching on top of a toppled-over half of a sofa. He hadn’t been planning on having this fight so soon, but it looked like he was trapped in it now. “Henrik, r̢u͟n̵.” And he threw the knife at Marvin.

A blast of violet magic caught the knife in midair, turning it on its head and sending it flying back in the direction it came from. Anti didn’t glitch away, letting the blade hit him in the chest. He pulled it out and laughed. “Still̸ t͝h͢e sa͟me m̵o͏vęs̛ as ever, ̶th̴e̛n.”

“ _Oh, not at all._ ” Marvin threw his hand out, and a ball of black light flew from his fingertips. It landed in the center of the room. Beams of violet burst from its center with a strange cracking noise, like a bird breaking through an eggshell. The beams of purple light whirled around the room, cutting through the remains of the furniture and leaving black trails on the walls. Anti’s eye widened, and he dispersed into pixels. Marvin screamed. “ _You’re making me ruin my house!_ ”

“You ̴ca̧n ͞a̵l̶wa̵y͢s g̸ive ̴u͝p̷.” Anti reappeared behind Marvin and plunged the blade into his back, sharply withdrawing it. Marvin pivoted around before Anti could disappear again and grabbed him by the wrist. Purple light traveled down Anti’s arm from that moment of contact, leaving sparks in its wake. Anti gasped at the new sensation of the spell, caught off guard just long enough for Marvin to spin back to the room at large and throw Anti across the space as if he weighed nothing.

 _Thump!_ Anti hit the wall and slid to the ground, but popped up as soon as he was able. Just in time to glitch out of the way again as a blast of purple bolted toward him. Marvin smiled, and threw his arm across the room. Three wheels of black light careened through the air with a high-pitched shriek each, bouncing off the walls, gaining speed with every pass until they were no more than black blurs. Anti kept disappearing, reappearing to try and get a shot at Marvin, then disappearing again to avoid another wheel. But eventually one of the wheels caught him, slicing straight through his outstretched right arm at the elbow. Anti leaned back, then dropped to the floor to dodge another wheel zooming overhead. The severed part of his arm turned into static and disappeared.

Marvin laughed. “ _‘Same moves as ever,’ you said?! No, I think it’s you who’s using the same set of skills! How did I eeeever find you a challenge? You’re so **weak!** And I am no longer at your level!_”

“Humans,” Anti grunted. “Y͝ou͢r͡ ǫver̢con͞fi̕de͟nce is y̧ou͞r̡ d̢o̶wn̶f̨a͢ll͠.” He disappeared once again.

Marvin chuckled, his eyes flaring brighter. He walked out into the center of the room and folded his arms. The world was still. The air seemed to hold its breath.

Anti reappeared directly in front of Marvin, blade raised to his throat. And the light turned black and violet. Magic exploded outward, flying across the room, searing the air cold. Anti was thrown backwards, once again hitting the wall and falling down. But he didn’t stand up this time. Instead he pushed himself to his knees, looking down at his torso. Purple magic was eating away at his shirt and scarf, and below that, at his flesh. The decay was progressing at an alarming rate. Anti actually paled, static spazzing out his skin.

Marvin grinned wide. “ _I feel there’s a hint of irony here,_ ” he said. He walked to Anti, looking down at him. “ _Now, are you going to make me kill you? I’m starting to think I’d rather not, but if you keep going like this, then I’ll have to._ ”

Anti stared up at him. And without saying anything, he glitched violently and was gone.

“ _Oh come on!_ ” Marvin threw his hands in the air. “ _You have a fucking get-out-of-jail free card?! That’s not faaair!_ ” He sighed, letting his hands drop back down to earth. “ _And you stabbed me. Again. Guess that needs to be fixed. Which meeeeans…_ ” Marvin twisted his head, looking around the room. There was no sign of the doctor, and the door was wide open. But another twist of his neck, and Marvin could sense a human soul, not too far out in the woods. 

The world turned to dark smoke, and when it settled again Marvin was out in the forest, standing directly in front of Schneep, who yelped and started to run in the other direction. Marvin’s hand shot out and caught him by the back of the shirt, pulling him close. “Nein! Nein, nein, lass mich gehen!” Schneep sobbed, clawing and pounding at Marvin’s arms, to no avail. “Jackie! Chase! Marvin, Jamie! Wo sind Sie? Wo sind Sie?!”

“ _Shh, it’s going to be okay,_ ” Marvin said. “ _We’re going back now. Things are going well._ ” And they were gone.

* * *

On the other side of the world, a man with fading green hair was sitting in a House’s living room, having a conversation with a floating green eyeball. And then the world froze, and broke into static and pixels, then color bars and faded sepia, then corrupted black and white, then soundwave shrieking. The lights flickered overhead and turned crimson for a moment before the world finally righted itself. And now there was a different man standing in the middle of the room.

“Anti!” Jack jumped to his feet, followed shortly by Sam. “Anti, you—oh my god, what happened to you?!”

Anti blinked at him. Green-tinted static was shivering across his form as he faded in and out of visibility. Part of his right arm was missing, and a significant portion of his left side was gone too, dark violet light creeping slowly onward. “I҉̨ ̢ ų̼̮̳̭͔̬͉ͅͅn̹̟̟̪̬͎̥ͅd̷͡ȩr ȩ͏s͠-es-es-esti̷m͟a̵͝ t̶̕͡ęd̡̛ ͠ hi͝m.” His voice crackled, repeating. “S̵̨ḩo҉ u̡̡̕l̸d////n͟'t̕/// //h̸͠a̸̡//v̶e̡͢ h̨e̸ l̷͞d̛ ̶͝ ░ b͡a̧c̨͝k̛.̡ ░░▒░”

“What? You mean Marvin? Did he do this? Hey!” Jack ran across the room, just in time to catch Anti as he stumbled. “I’m having trouble understanding you, bud. What can I do? What do we do about this?!”

“M͟͠͠a͞͠-ma-mag͠ i̷̩͠c̬͇̖̪͎͟░░.” The words were stuttering. “///Ş͡o̕͠m̴̧ e̡o̧ne͡ h̨e̴͏ rę ̸̶h̴͡a///ha̕s ţ̶o͏ ░░▒░▒▒.”

“I-I don’t know what that sound is,” Jack whispered, vaguely panicked. “Just—hang on, I can find someone—”

“Well, you don’t have to find anyone.”

Jack looked up. Somehow, without making any sound or giving any indication at all, a man had entered the room, and was now sitting back in one of the armchairs. Jack had never seen him before, but it was another one of Mark’s god damn lookalikes. And he thought it was weird when _he_ had _five_ others who looked like him. But that didn’t matter right now. “Can…you help?” he asked.

“Hmm, well I suppose I could,” the man drawled, pursing his lips. “I was having a good time over on my own, but that would be the right thing to do, wouldn’ it?” He stood up. “Well, let’s go find old’ Darkymoo, we should be able to do something together.”

Jack immediately decided this guy was the weirdest one. But once again, not important. He looked down at Anti. “We’re going to u-undo this. Just hang on. Okay? You got it?”

Anti looked at Jack. Between the static and the pixels, he managed to smile. And then his thoughts scattered and he lost awareness.


	31. The Second Principle of Magic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jackie, Chase, and Jameson realize Anti is taking too long to deal with Marvin, and take it upon themselves to go look for Schneep, with some help from local magicians.

Somewhere in the apartment, a clock chimed five. The shadows had moved significantly, sunlight warming different spots of the room. Chase appeared to be sleeping in his chair. And Jackie was about to lose his mind.

“This is taking too long!” He paced the room, ignoring every twinge from the not-entirely healed wound on his leg. “It shouldn’t be taking this long, if Anti’s supposed to be so powerful. Where is he?”

Jameson, sitting on the sofa, took out his watch and checked the time. {He said it might take an hour,} he ventured. {And…well, perhaps his estimate could have been a bit rough…}

“Or maybe something happened!” Jackie said, throwing his hand in the air. “Hell, he’s not exactly fond of Henrik, maybe he just decided not to do anything.”

{Anti wouldn’t do that,} Jameson stated flatly. {He has his principles.}

“How would you kn—oh. Yeah.” Jackie was still getting used to the fact that Jameson and Anti knew each other. It was a little…odd. The two of them were so different, after all. “Well, whatever. It stands that he’s taking too long, and it makes sense that something could’ve happened, whatever that is. “ Jackie paused in his pacing. “Which means that we’ll have to do this ourselves.”

“Oh yeah, great idea.” Chase, apparently not as asleep as he appeared, lifted his head. “You remember what happened last time? I’m pretty sure Marvin could’ve killed us if he hadn’t gotten distracted.”

“Oh shush.” Jackie stomped down the part of him that agreed with Chase’s words. “We are _not_ leaving Henrik to be…I-I don’t even know what Marvin wants with him, but we are not going to let it happen.” He patted his belt instinctively, before remembering the police took all his weapons. He grunted in frustration, and whirled around. “Jameson, do you have anything in this place I can use?”

Jameson looked mildly surprised, but nodded, slowly, and pointed to a door. {Down the hall, last door on the right.}

“Whoa, hang on a moment!” Chase scrambled to his feet and rushed across the room to block Jackie from moving forward. “Alright, dude, I don’t want to let Schneep get hurt either, but we can’t just rush in there! We need a plan!”

“Do we have time for a plan?!” Jackie demanded.

“If we don’t want to get killed, yes!” Chase grabbed Jackie by the arms. “Look. You were there. You remember what happened to—to _everything_ in that whole area! It’s only luck that neither of us _died!_ And I know it sounds cliche, but we’re not gonna be much help to Schneep if we’re dead, are we?”

Jackie stared at him. Then took a deep, slow breath. “Alright. Plan, then.”

Chase nodded, not bothering to hide his relief, and let go of his arms.

“So what’re we gonna need?” Jackie asked. “Are we going to take him out, or…?”

“Y’know, I don’t think we can,” Chase said, shrugging. “Maybe we should just try not to run into him.”

“Well, that’s if that’s possible,” Jackie mused. “Maybe we should pack something, just in case.” His eyes suddenly widened. “Wait…shit, we don’t even know where he is.”

Jameson coughed, drawing the others’ attention. {I do believe I have a solution for both of those issues. The locating, and the, ah, firepower.}

“Really?” Jackie asked, intrigued. “Well, do share.”

Jameson took his phone out of his pocket and started swiping and tapping across the screen. {I…recently made contact with a pair of magicians,} Jameson said slowly. {They got word of a black magic magician in the area, and are searching for him. I’m sure if we tell them that we may have a way to help find him…}

“We do?” Chase said, latching onto the last part. “What?”

{I have Marvin’s soul seeker,} Jameson explained. {None of us can use it, since none of us have any natural magic, but perhaps these magicians can. I’m sure I can negotiate their help on this venture. We both…both want to find him, after all.} Something flickered across Jameson’s face. Something…sad, almost grieving. But it’s quickly gone.

Jackie nodded. “Okay, so we get these magicians on our side, and together we track down Marvin. Then what?”

“Then we stealth mission it, bro,” Chase said. “Sneak in, get the doc, and get out. Don’t get killed in the process.”

“I can work with that,” Jackie said, bouncing on his heels. God, finally they were going to _do_ something.

A grin tugs at Chase’s mouth. “You seem excited. And bouncy.”

“I’m worried about Schneep, I’m tired of waiting for the glitch bitch, and I haven’t taken my brain-stop-giving-me-useless-energy-please pills in at least a week,” Jackie said. He laughed a bit. “Of course I’m bouncy. Jameson? When can we meet these magician guys?”

Jameson was silent for a moment, frowning down at the screen of his phone. Then he nodded. {They just responded. Luckily, they know where this place is, so we don’t have to worry about you two being seen in public and possibly arrested. Perhaps half an hour from now?}

“Got it,” Jackie nodded. “Now all we need are the weapons. In case the worse happens, you know. Let’s go get ‘em.”

* * *

░░▒ ░▒ ▒░

░ ▒░

░ ▒░░ ░

Anti glitched upright with a scream, sounding more electric than organic. Before he knew what was happening, he was on his feet, knife in hand.

“Whoa! Hey, Anti, it’s okay! It’s all fine!”

A small green glow darted in front of Anti’s face, drawing his attention. Details of the world slowly loaded in. The people came first. It started with Jack, standing nearby, reaching out as if to steady Anti if he started to fall. Then came four others, one after another. They all looked alike, with dark hair and similar builds. Sam was close by, hovering in the corner of Anti’s vision worriedly. Then the room started to register. It looked vaguely like a doctor’s office, one you would go to for a check-up. Except there was a layer of water on the floor at least an inch deep.

“W̨h̡er͝e is this?” Anti asked, slowly lowering his knife. Then two of the other people in the room finally clicked in his mind. He shot them a look. “Ah, it’s you two. Emo and pink.”

“Nice to see you too, Anti,” Dark nodded from where he was standing in the corner. “Are you sure you don’t want to take me up on my offer to help anytime soon?”

Anti rolled his eye, turning his attention to the other one. “Wilford. Been a while.”

“Charming to see your face outside of a TV screen,” Wilford drawled. He was lounging against the nearest counter, holding a drink of some kind. No idea where he got that from.

“And…I don’t remember the other two’s names,” Anti said.

Jack huffed, exasperated. “This is Edward. He’s the House’s doct—guy who heals people. And that’s G.”

Edward smiled a bit in greeting. G nodded once.

“Oh, now I remember.” Anti tilted his head. He made eye contact with G and didn’t look away. He was still having trouble figuring out the electric signal around that one. “So where am I?”

“Well, you’re in my office,” Edward piped up. “We thought it would be the best place, since we weren’t sure if…” He paused, looking for the right word. “…things were going to turn out okay.”

“You…you really should’ve seen what happened.” Jack smiled, but it was shaky clearly backed by nerves. “Um…how much do you remember about what happened?”

Anti switched his attention back to Jack. “Well, I lost a fight pretty badly, and thought it would be a good idea to come here. So I did. And I saw you. And then everything…b͞r͢ok̷e͠.” He wasn’t sure if there was a better word for it.

Jack nodded. “You were…i-it was…I’ve never seen you act like that before. There were so many glitches, a-and not just computery, they kind of looked like…I don’t know, like shadows or something. And your eyes were open but you weren’t moving or reacting to anything and I just—” Jack took a deep breath. “I-I was…it was kind of…scary.”

“That sounds bad,” Anti admitted.

“Scans revealed a lack of structural integrity in your body,” G suddenly said. “It appeared as though it was dissolving into an unknown energy, in addition to the damage done by the acidic substance.”

“Yeah, I do that,” Anti said bluntly. True, usually he was in control of the dissolving, but it wasn’t unexpected. “What do you mean by ‘acidic substance?’”

G paused. “The origin of the liquid was unable to be determined.” He didn’t sound too happy that he wasn’t able to figure it out.

“Whatever it was, it was purple,” Jack explained. “And it kept…acid is the only way I’m thinking to fucking describe it, it was burning up your body. We had to wash it off.” He kicked at the water covering the floor, making a splash. “Now, I-I don’t know how accurate this is, but it must’ve been, like, some sort of super-strong magic.”

“It was.” A concentrated blast of Void magic. Anti hadn’t been prepared for that, but he was planning on it now. Speaking of which… “I need to leave.”

“Whoa, hey, you can’t just leave!” Jack said, taken aback. “You were fucking missing chunks of your body just a few minutes ago! And an arm!”

“Well, I’m fine now.”

“Yeah, how did you manage to heal from that?” Edward wondered. “For the past hour or so, there was no change. And then all of a sudden the missing bits filled up with static and it was all better!”

“I don’t have an answer for you, doctor.” Anti’s voice suddenly lowered. “And I advise you not to go looking for one.”

Edward suddenly paled, taking a step back. Then he fixed a smile on his face. “Well, now that this whole mess has been taken care of, I have other things to do. G, let’s go.”

“But—”

“You have paperwork, don’t you? I, uh, don’t think we’re needed here anymore.”

G still looked like he wanted to protest, but he folded his arms and followed Edward out of the room anyway. Dark and Wilford did not go with them, staying in their spots. The two of them exchanged a look.

“Alright, you know, it’s good that you’re doing better,” Jack said. Sam settled on his shoulder and nodded. “But we don’t know if there’ll be any lingering effects or anything. Oh, and if… _this_ happened to you after one fight, what’ll happen if you go charging in now?”

“It’ll be fine, Jack,” Anti said, voice softening a bit to sound reassuring.

“You don’t know that!” Jack said, eyes wide. “Y-you can’t just—what if something more permanent—I-I don’t know!”

“Now, forgive me for butting in,” Wilford said, butting in. “But it sounds like you could do with a little bit of help, camera man.”

Anti whirled to face him. “I’ll be alright,” he said, exasperated. “I was just a little unprepared, and underestimated him. I hadn’t seen a Void in a while—”

A high-pitched whine suddenly pierced the air, leaving a ringing aftertone. The surroundings seemed to _crack,_ for a moment showing nothing but blackness. Then it settled. Anti froze, and slowly turned to look at Dark. Though his posture hadn’t changed, and he hadn’t taken a step away from his spot in the corner, Dark was…tense. Shoulders a bit stiffer than they were a moment ago, hands gripping the top of his cane a bit tighter. If he’d been breathing before, he certainly wasn’t now.

Anti’s eye narrowed. “But you have. Haven’t you?”

Dark glanced at Wilford, who looked as if the sudden shift in the atmosphere had soured his mood. Then Dark nodded once. “It’s been some time, but…yes.”

Jack looked back and forth between the two of them. “Wh…what’s a Void?” he asked. “Is…is that something to do with Marvin?”

“Well…” Anti shifted on his feet. “Yes. A Void is a human consumed by black magic.”

“Oh, it doesn’t have to be black magic.” Dark straightened his tie. “Anyone who goes messing about where they shouldn’t, who finds themselves drawn in by a dark force, could just as easily turn into an empty Husk. It’s just that black magic is the most common means.”

Jack backed up a bit. His brows drew together as he tensed, concerned. “‘Consumed by a dark force’ doesn’t sound too good.”

“It isn’t,” Dark agreed. 

“I…” Jack opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out. He rubbed his arms, shrinking a bit. Sam scooted closer to his neck, pressing against it as if to reassure him. “I’m…not sure how to feel about…that happening to Marvin.”

“That’s okay,” Anti said softly. “You don’t have to figure it out right now.”

Jack nodded, covering his mouth with his hand. He walked over to the nearest chair and sat down.

“Are…you alright?” Anti asked hesitantly.

“Fine,” Jack said. “No, I-I mean…I’m a bit…I don’t know. Just…give me a moment. Keep talking, it’s okay.”

“Well…if you insist.” Anti turned back to Dark. “You’ve known a Void, then? In recent times?”

Dark and Wilford exchanged a knowing look. “Fairly recent, yes,” Dark said.

“Haven’t seen the chap in a while, though,” Wilford muttered.

Anti’s eyes narrowed. “Is it another one of your doppelgangers?” Neither of them answered, but that was an answer in and of itself. Anti sighed. “I swear, every time I see you two, another one pops up.”

“Have you met the new three?” Wilford asked cheerfully.

“This isn’t the time for that,” Dark chided. Wil chuckled, taking another sip of his drink.

Anti folded his arms. “You know, I think I will take you up on your offer to help.” If he was being honest, he didn’t really think he needed it. He wasn’t planning on holding back the next time he ran into the Void. But it couldn’t hurt to hold as many cards as possible in this game. “I need you to tell me everything you know about Voids.”

Dark raised an eyebrow. “Everything?”

“Yes, everything,” Anti repeated. “I said it’s been a while since I’ve seen one, better brush up. Do all Voids have the same weakness? What about abilities?” He paused. “And do you know if there’s any way to undo what’s been done?”

“Well, in that case.” Dark rolled his shoulders. “Might as well get comfortable, because this will take some time.”

* * *

Jackie had never seen real magicians before. Other than Marvin, of course, but he’d always known Marvin was something of an outsider when it came to this magical community. Until Jameson had filled him and Chase in on the situation, Jackie hadn’t even known magicians had governments. So he had no idea what to expect, waiting in the lobby of the building underneath Jameson’s apartment.

Yet somehow, when the two magicians showed up, he immediately thought they _looked_ like how magicians would. They introduced themselves as Frederick and Yvonne. Frederick was taller, with dark hair and eyes, and a swirling tattoo along the side of his neck. Yvonne’s hair was dyed purple and blue, her eyes lighter in color. They wore the same sort of professional clothing, but there was something about it that seemed a bit…well, magical.

“So you two are the ones Mr. Jackson mentioned?” Yvonne checked the message on her phone. “Jackie and Chase, right?”

“Yeah. I’m Jackie, that’s Chase.” Jackie gestured at Chase, who nodded but didn’t say anything.

“Alright, got it.” Yvonne pocketed her phone. “So, neither of you practice magic, but you’re aware of it, right?”

“Um…yeah. That doesn’t like, break any magic laws, does it?” Jackie asked cautiously.

Frederick made a huffing sort of laugh. “No, not at all. Look, the ABIM, and really all the people in charge all over the world, aren’t concerned with secrecy on an individual level. As long as people as a whole don’t know. That could cause…so many problems.”

“I never understood that,” Chase muttered. “Like, in books and stuff. Why’s it a secret?”

“Hmm, go talk to government officials looking to weaponize anything, and then if you’re still confused, come back to that question,” Yvonne chuckled. Then her face fell into a more serious expression. “Anyway, the sooner we get going, the better. Jackson said that a friend of yours got caught up in this?”

Jackie nodded. His hand fell to his belt, restocked with blades that Jameson kept stashed for emergencies. If there was ever an emergency, this was it.

Frederick and Yvonne looked at each other. “…sorry about that,” Frederick muttered. “You know, that it happened. But if we hurry, we can get there before anything bad…well.” He cleared his throat and straightened. “We’re going to need the soul seeker.”

Jameson nodded. _One moment please,_ he signed. He’d brought a backpack with him, which he now took off and set on the ground. After a moment of digging, he took out a small, spherical object wrapped in a white towel, which he passed to Frederick.

The magician unwrapped the towel, revealing the soul seeker. It looked the same as ever—a glass orb filled with swirling smoke. Frederick rested a hand against the side, and watched as the smoke turned a dark forest green, then gathered together in the center and began branching off, like a miniature tree. “Okay, good, it works,” Frederick nodded. He passed the seeker to Yvonne. “You do it, you’re a better tracker.”

“Why thank you very much.” Yvonne flashed a smile, taking the seeker. The moment she took it, the branching green in the center burst apart into a wild tempest, the mist now pale sky blue. She took the sphere in both hands, looking down at it as her brows furrowed together in concentration. The mist suddenly flickered wildly through a few different colors and modes—gray-red that dripped at the sides, olive yellow that roiled like a sea in a storm—before landing on purple. Dark violet sparks snapped angrily at the edges of the glass containing them. Yvonne’s expression suddenly shifted—to surprise.

Frederick seemed to notice that. “Is…is something wrong, Eve?”

“No, it’s nothing.” Yvonne shook her head. “Let’s just…just do this.” She blinked, and her eyes started to glow sky blue. Almost too quietly to hear, she began muttering words.

{That…was recognition.} Jameson’s words projected into Jackie and Chase’s minds, but only to them. To the magicians, he remained silent, checking the time on his watch. {She recognized the seeker’s memory of Marvin’s soul. How…odd.}

“Got it!” Yvonne looked away from the seeker, her eyes retaining their glow. “I can see the way. C’mon, let’s go. You three are coming, too?”

“Of course we are!” Jackie said. “This was our idea.”

“Great, there should be room in the car for all of us,” Frederick said, doing a quick head count.

“Car?” Chase asked, surprised. “Can’t you just…teleport us, or something?”

Frederick laughed. “Oh, if only. It would take so much power to teleport even one person farther than a few blocks. No, cars are faster.”

“Especially with how far away this feels,” Yvonne added. 

_Well, the three of us are ready,_ Jameson signed. _Let’s go._

Frederick sighed. “We have to adapt the translation spells for signed languages.”

“He just said they’re ready to go, don’t worry,” Yvonne said. “Besides, I’m sure there are transpells for signs somewhere out there.” She tucked the soul seeker underneath her arm, not letting go of it. “I’m driving, by the way.”

“What?! No, it’s my car!” Frederick protested.

“And you don’t know where we’re going, so I’m driving,” Yvonne insisted.

Frederick sighed, but waved his hand, as if relenting. 

“Why are we standing around talking? There’s no time to lose!” Jackie headed towards the door. “Let’s find them.”

* * *

They had to abandon the car eventually, as the tracking spell led them into the forest surrounding the city. There, even though the late summer sun wouldn’t set for another two hours at least, the trees darkened the area to evening lighting. Luckily, Jameson brought a flashlight, and the magicians were able to conjure orbs of soft light as they walked onward.

The longer they walked, the more anxious Jackie became. He and Chase had gotten lost in these woods…was it only earlier today? God, it was hard to believe. So much had happened since the wreck. Speaking of which, now that they were actually starting to do something, Jackie was replaying the events of the crash over and over. Nerves were starting to eat away at his composure. But he had to push through them. It was just like facing any other criminal. Except instead of guns, this one had magic. But in both cases, you didn’t want to be caught.

“So, remember, we want to get in and out quickly,” Jackie said quietly. Something about the forest made him want to lower his voice. “This is a rescue mission.”

“Damn right it is,” Chase agreed.

Frederick turned to look over his shoulder at them. “You two can do it that way if you want to, but our job is to take in any sources of black magic. That includes this magician.”

“We can do it both ways,” Chase said. “But, uh, please don’t give us away.”

“What do you two _do_ anyway?” Jackie wondered out loud. “Are you like those people in the Harry Potter books? The ones I don’t remember the names of, who catch the dark wizards.”

“I don’t remember either, but, uh, kinda.” Frederick nodded. “We’re like magic police. Track down any black magic, and deal with it appropriately. The ABIM even has different divisions, like a police department. Yvonne used to work in the undercover sector, in fact.”

Jackie narrowed his eyes. “How do you ‘deal with it?’”

Frederick shrugged. “Depends on the severity of the offense. Someone just messing about will probably get, like, a fine, or a few months of time-out.” He chuckled, but then his expression fell. “But if the person turns out to be a more serious threat, they can be put away forever, have their magic locked, or even…well. Dealt with.”

“I see.” Jackie fell silent. Part of him wondered how Marvin would rank on that scale. And part of him wondered if he cared if Marvin faced the most serious consequence.

Meanwhile, Yvonne and Jameson were walking farther ahead. Yvonne’s eyes still glowed blue as she followed the trail only she could see. The soul seeker was still clutched in her hands, the mist inside locked on the purple sparks of Marvin’s soul. “Handy that you had this,” Yvonne muttered. “How’d you find it?”

 _It’s a long story,_ Jameson signed. _The short version is I had to work around a protective spell and a locked desk drawer._

“I’m sorry, what was that last word?”

 _D-R-A-W-E-R,_ Jameson finger-spelled the word.

“Oh.” Yvonne paused. “Um, sorry I wasn’t able to get that.”

 _It’s alright, you’re doing really well anyway,_ Jameson signed encouragingly. _It is lucky you know sign, by the way._

“Well. Thought it would be handy to learn,” Yvonne shrugged. “Still having trouble forming the words myself, though.”

_Most people find it the other way around. Interesting._

They fell silent for a moment. Then: “I think we’re getting close.”

 _Is that so?_ Jameson asked. _Well, in that case, I think this is a good time to show you something. It might come in handy, for what we’re going into._

“Oh?”

Jameson dug into his pocket, and withdrew a silver pocket watch. _Here, you can look at it,_ he said, passing it over.

Yvonne shifted the soul seeker to one hand, taking the watch with the other. “Hmm. This is a talisman, right?” She turned it over in her fingers. “I can recognize the runes, but I’m not very good at reading them. I’m sure you can do all…all sorts of…” She trailed off. She continued walking forward, following the tracking spell, but her eyes remained fixed on the watch.

{All sorts of things with it.} Jameson finished the thought for her. {I have a few questions for you. And a favor as well.}

About fifteen minutes later, the group ran into the walls of a small cabin, hidden between the trees. “This looks important,” Chase muttered. “Is this the place?”

After a short pause, Yvonne nodded. “Yeah, the spell ends here.”

Jackie stepped back a bit, looking at the cabin as a whole. “Not what I was expecting, I’ll be honest,” he said. “But I guess it makes sense that he’d want to stay as far away from people as possible.” He paused. “Antisocial prick.”

“Hey, so fun fact about black magic,” Frederick said. “A common side effect of using it too much is withdrawing from people. Or, you know, society as a whole.”

“Oh. Huh.” Jackie…wasn’t sure how to feel about that. He quickly concluded that Marvin was still a prick and decided to move on. “Anyway, where’s the entrance?”

“I don’t know,” Yvonne said. She handed the soul seeker to Jameson, who slipped it back in his backpack. “Why don’t you guys go find it? I’ll stay outside, keep watch.”

Frederick looked surprised at that. “Really? You don’t want to come?”

“Not this time,” Yvonne said, shaking her head. “But if you call for me, I’ll come running.”

“Well…okay, then.” Frederick frowned, but turned to look at the other three. “So the rest of us are all going in?” When they all nodded in unison, he continued. “Okay. I think stealth would be the best approach. That way you can find your friend and get out quickly, and I can hopefully get the jump on the magician.”

“Sounds like a good plan,” Jackie agreed. 

“Yep, sounds solid.” Chase’s hand drifted towards his belt, hovering around his pistol. Just in case.

They found the front door easily enough—it was a small cabin, after all. It was locked, but Frederick whispered a few words, and a wisp of dark green magic twisted around the handle, and suddenly it was open. He frowned at that. “No defensive spells,” he muttered. “That’s not a good sign. Be careful.”

The interior of the house was absolutely wrecked. The furniture was still broken, and there were black trails and indents on the walls, the remains of a struggle. What’s more, the air felt heavy, squeezing the intruder’s hearts in its icy fingers. It was like going too far underwater and starting to feel the pressure.

Frederick shivered, conjuring a small blossom of green light to illuminate the dark interior. “This feels…wrong,” he whispered. “More than the usual dark magic, I mean.”

Jameson waved, drawing the other’s attention. _I can locate two other human minds in this building. One through there_ —he pointed at a simple wooden door in the wall— _and one through here._ He pointed at another, nearer door. This one had a chair, bleeding stuffing from its upholstery, shoved under the handle. 

“Nice,” Frederick nodded, impressed. “Can you tell who is which?”

Jackie snorted. “I don’t think he would want to shove a chair in front of the room he was in,” he muttered, already approaching said chair. It wasn’t too heavy, but its legs scraped along the floor, so he had to go slow to avoid making too much noise. After a moment, Chase joined him, and the two of them were able to move the chair out of the way. Jameson hovered nearby, while Frederick watched from a ways away.“Alright.” Jackie took a deep breath, hand resting on the door handle. “Here we go.” And with that, he pulled it open.

The room beyond was even darker than the living room. Jackie reached inside, feeling along the wall until he found a light switch and managed to flip it on. A single lightbulb mounted in the ceiling flickered to life. Now, being able to see, it was evident that this was actually meant to be a closet of some kind, though it was empty except for a few cardboard boxes that looked empty. But Jackie and Chase didn’t care about those. Their eyes immediately and simultaneously locked on the figure lying on the ground.

“Schn—!” Jackie couldn’t even get the word out, he was too flooded with a combination of relief and worry. Chase didn’t even say anything, just pushed into the closet and fell to his knees next to Schneep. Jackie was quick to follow, and once the two of them had vacated the doorway Jameson entered as well, though he didn’t kneel on the floor with the other two.

“Is he okay?” Chase asked in a hushed voice.

“I-I don’t know.” Jackie gave Schneep a once-over. Number one thing to notice: he was either asleep or unconscious. Hopefully the former and not the latter. His wrists were tied together with strips of cloth, slightly bloodstained from a few small cuts along his wrists. But the most pressing problem appeared to be the purple-stained veins on the side of his forehead. As Jackie watched, the violet coloring seemed to spread, almost unnoticeably. “It…doesn’t look like he’s in immediate danger?” Jackie guessed.

Chase reached forward and shook Schneep’s shoulder. He didn’t stir. Chase pressed his fingers to Schneep’s neck. “I think that’s steady. And normal,” Chase said. “So there’s that. But what about the purple stuff?”

“I don’t know about that, either.” Jackie pulled Schneep upward, wrapping his arms around him. Schneep’s head rolled to the side, and he still didn’t stir. Jackie was starting to lean towards the ‘unconscious’ option from earlier. He looked up, noticing Jameson nearby. “Hey, can you do anything about this?” He asked. “With your…y’know.” He tapped the side of his head.

Before Jameson could answer, there was a scream from outside the closet.

Chase and Jackie looked at each other, and instantly they were both on their feet, with Chase drawing his gun and Jackie lifting Schneep into his arms. Chase went outside first, passing by Jameson.

While they’d been busy finding their lost friend, it appeared that Frederick had gone ahead and decided to confront the other human mind Jameson had sensed. Now, he was climbing to his feet, having apparently fallen over some of the broken furniture. His eyes were glowing emerald green, cables of magic looping around his hands. Standing directly across from him, only a few feet away and glowing with darkness, was Marvin. 

“ _I don’t know who you are, but you are going to regret ever stepping foot in my house,_ ” Marvin hissed. And he flung out a hand, black-purple magic splattering away.

Frederick gasped, and raised his hands in turn. A green shield sprang up from the ground just in time. The purple magic splashed against the shield and immediately started burning through, but it gave Frederick enough time to roll away and launch his own attack. Green magic sprouted from the ground around Marvin, wrapping like vines around his legs.

Marvin made a sound of frustration, and dropped a ball of dark violet to the floor, where it burst into bright purple, eating away the vines. He made another ball and threw it toward Frederick, who caught it in a woven net of green light, spinning the ball’s trajectory back around toward Marvin. He ducked as the ball soared over his head and split against the wall. And he screamed. “ _What are you even doing here?!_ ”

Frederick’s eyes darted to the side for a split second, glancing toward where Chase and Jackie were standing, frozen as they watched the battle between magicians. But that split second was long enough for Marvin to follow his gaze. Purple eyes turned on the two, and immediately flared brighter. “ _ **You!**_ ” He shrieked. He threw his arm across the room, and a wheel of black light spun to life, heading right for the other two. Chase pushed Jackie, still holding Schneep, to the side. But before the wheel got too close, it suddenly glowed green. Sprouts of emerald light burst from within the wheel, destroying it. 

Marvin screamed again, whirling in between Frederick and the others. “ _Why won’t you **diiie?!**_ ” He wailed. It wasn’t clear who he was talking to.

Chase checked the safety on his gun. Behind him, Jackie regained his balance, holding Schneep close to him. Jackie started backing towards the door, while Chase aimed the pistol at Marvin. “Could say the same thing about you,” he muttered. “You got shot, like, twice. But maybe that just wasn’t enough.”

Marvin snarled, black violet dripping from his hands and arms. “ _I don’t care how many times you pull that trigger. It won’t stop me. Not now! Not with—_ ” He suddenly stopped. He’d noticed someone hovering in the closet doorway that he hadn’t seen before. “ _You.”_

Jameson froze. It was no use hiding anymore, not when Marvin had seen him.

Time might as well have stopped. The two of them stared at each other, neither moving. The others in the room seemed locked in place as well, fixed in place by the air that had turned to a solid, it was so thick with unspoken words and leftover emotions. Nobody moved. Nobody _wanted_ to move.

Then Marvin snapped.

“ _ **Get out!**_ ” He threw a bolt of darkest violet from his hands. Jameson jumped to the side as it left a black crater in the wall beside him. But it was quickly followed by a barrage more. “ _ **Get out!** Get out of my **sight**! I don’t want to **see** you! I don’t want to **hear** you! **I don’t want you** **in my thoughts! GET OUT!** ”_

Jameson scrambled backwards, almost tripping over nothing as he tried to get as far from the bolts of burning magic as possible. Though they passed close enough to feel the searing darkness emanating from them, none of them hit him. Maybe they weren’t meant to. Regardless, as soon as there was a slight gap in the onslaught, he turned and ran. Chase and Jackie, seeing an opportunity, followed quickly, fleeing into the woods. 

As soon as they were out of sight, Marvin stopped, panting. He didn’t like the knot of feelings in his chest. He didn’t want to touch it. If he touched it, the knot would beg to be untangled, and he’d get lost in it.

There was a small noise behind him. Anger rose in a wave, and Marvin turned on it. Frederick was still in here. Marvin growled, squeezing his fists tight enough for his nails to leave imprints on his palms. “ _You. Are going. To die._ ”

Frederick immediately cast another shield, stronger than his first attempt. Marvin’s magic splattered against it, starting to eat away. Frederick reached into his pocket and pulled out something that looked like a small glass orb, big enough to fit in his hand. He squeezed it, and it shattered instantly, a small wave of blue light spreading away from it.

That was the call for help. Now he just had to last until Yvonne showed up. But looking into those violet, empty eyes, doing so sounded like an improbable task.

* * *

“Get in the car, get in the car, get in the car!”

“But what about the magicians?”

“ _Fuck_ the magicians, we are going to _die_ if we don’t get out of here! Now get in the car or I’ll drive away without you!”

Jackie slid into the car’s backseat, making sure that he didn’t accidentally hit Schneep’s head against anything. Chase was in the driver’s seat, looking through the various storage areas, and Jameson was just closing the door to the passenger’s seat.

“I saw a spare key in here, who the fuck keeps a spare key in their car? I guess magicians do! Ah, there it is!” Chase twisted the key and the car started. He wasted no time in applying the gas, skidding away from the side of the road and peeling away. Only then did he allow himself to breathe. “Jesus christ, that was actually somehow worse than last time. How is that possible?”

Jackie looked out the window behind them. “So…we’re really going to just leave those guys.”

Chase, at least, had the decency to feel guilty. He shifted in his seat. “I mean…I guess we could stick around? See if the come out? I mean, we have a car…maybe if Marvin came after us we could get away fast?”

{No,} Jameson said. {Remember what he did to your van? I don’t think it would be too hard to do the same thing here.}

“…I guess,” Chase said. He glanced back at Jackie, and in a moment, they both understood; neither of them were happy about this.

{At least we got Henrik back,} Jameson pointed out.

Jackie nodded. He was still half-holding Schneep, who hadn’t so much as opened his eyes during the whole commotion. “We got to figure out what’s up with this,” he muttered, eyes landing on the web of purple on his forehead.

“Yeah, but I think we need to get somewhere safe first,” Chase said.

“Back to the apartment?” Jackie suggested.

{Why not?} Jameson shrugged. {I certainly can’t think of anyplace better.}

“What if…” Chase swallowed nervously. “What if he comes after you?”

Jameson didn’t say anything for a while, staring out the window. {I don’t think he will.} The words were small, silent even for a thought.

The rest of the drive back was silent, heavy with unvoiced thoughts.


	32. Patience to Pretend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group has rescued Schneep, but find he's acting a bit off, even for him. The next morning, Jackie starts to put the pieces together, and realizes what Jameson had done.

It didn’t take long to return to the apartment, but by the time Chase parked the stolen car outside the building, the sun had well and truly set, leaving the sky dark. Chase stopped the engine and turned to look back at the backseat. “How’re things going back there?”

Jackie looked over at him. He didn’t say anything for a moment, just jerked his head back at Schneep leaning against him. He was still unconscious. “Should I try to wake him up?” Jackie asked.

Chase glanced over to Jameson, who nodded. {That’s a great idea.}

Jackie breathed out, slowly. “Alright.” He shifted position, straightening, and shook Schneep’s shoulder. “Hey Henrik? Doc? Schneep? Can you wake up now, buddy? We want you to wake up.”

It took a minute or two, but eventually, Schneep’s eyes fluttered open. He shouted something, some sort of strange mix of mashed-together German and English, trying to sit up before even being fully awake. But after a moment more of glancing around the car interior, taking in surroundings and familiar faces, he calmed down. “J…Jackie?” he asked, voice a whisper. “Chase? Jamie?”

“Yeah, bro, it’s us, it’s okay,” Chase said, leaning forward. But not too far, just in case that freaked him out.

Schneep’s head swiveled about, continuing to look around. “Wh-where…? Die lila Augen…?”

“He’s gone, don’t worry,” Jackie said soothingly. 

Schneep’s shoulders slumped. He leaned back against Jackie’s side. “I am tired,” he muttered.

“Man, I feel that, it’s been a long day,” Chase mumbled. “But we’re gonna go inside, you can rest then.”

Schneep nodded. “We should go, then.”

The apartment above looked exactly the same as it had when they left. Jameson went about turning on all the lights as the other three settled down in the living room. Chase sighed, collapsing in an armchair and pulling his cap down over his eyes. Jackie spread out along one side of the sofa, leaving enough room for Schneep to sit down. But he didn’t. Schneep remained standing in the center of the room, turning in a circle like he was looking for something.

“Uh…you okay there, Schneep?” Jackie asked. 

“Where is Marvin?” Schneep asked.

Jackie sat up straight. Chase pulled off his cap and stared at Schneep. The two of them looked at each other. “Um…doc, he’s…not here, it’s fine,” Chase said slowly.

“Where did he go?” Schneep asked. “When is he going to be back?” His eyes skimmed the walls of the room. “I think it would be best if he came back soon, we do not know when they will start moving.”

“Uhh…” Jackie tried to think of something to say, coming up empty. He settled for, “Why don’t you sit down, dude?”

Schneep edged away from Jackie, suddenly looking a little nervous. “I-I am good, thank you.”

“Are you sure?” Chase asked. “I mean, we’ll be waiting for Marvin for a while, might as well get comfortable.”

That seemed to be what Schneep was expecting to hear. He sighed, nodded, and went to sit on the sofa next to Jackie.

Jameson poked his head through the doorway. {Is anyone hungry? I can have something made.}

“I’m good,” Chase said.

“Um…a little bit,” Schneep said quietly, shifting in his seat.

“Ah, I’m not, but hang on a second,” Jackie stood up, walking over to Jameson. He lowered his voice. “Hey, um…Henrik’s acting a little weird.”

Jameson raised an eyebrow. {How so?}

“I-I don’t know? It’s like…he was expecting Marvin to be here,” Jackie explained. “But, like, he would know that Marvin was actually the one who…you know? I was wondering if you could check him out, with your, uh…” Jackie tapped the side of his temple.

Jameson sighed. {I’m no psychiatrist, but I can see if there’s something there. Those purple veins are worrying me.}

“Yeah!” Jackie nodded. “Do you think that Marvin…did something to him?”

{Perhaps. There’s only one way to find out.} Jameson passed Jackie, walking farther into the room. He took the newly-vacated spot on the sofa, next the Schneep. {Henrik, do you mind if I check something for you?}

“Like what?” Schneep asked. For a moment, his eyes darted away from Jameson, towards a spot on the wall, and then back to Jameson again.

{I’m just going to check if you’re alright,} Jameson assured him. {What with the purple eyes, and all, I want to make sure you’re okay.} He put a hand on top of on of Schneep’s, genuine concern in his eyes.

“Ah.” Schneep visibly relaxed. He nodded. “Alright, go ahead.”

Jameson beamed. {Thank you. This should only take a moment.} He reached inside his vest and pulled out his silver watch. {You’ll need to look at this for a bit.}

“Okay.” Schneep took the watch, looking down at the hands circling the numbered face. He relaxed further. Jameson reached forward, and tilted Schneep’s head upward again so their eyes met. Silence, but for the ticking of the clock counting down minutes.

Jackie looked over at Chase. _Should I say something?_ He mouthed.

Chase furrowed his brows, then shook his head and shrugged. _Probably best not to interrupt them?_ Chase signed.

 _Good point,_ Jackie signed back. _Also, good thinking with the signs._

 _Might as well use it if we know it,_ Chase replied.

Jackie glanced back at Jameson and Schneep. Neither of them had moved. _Aren’t you worried about…I don’t know, hypnotism or something?_

Chase considered this. _A little,_ he admitted. _But do you have a better way to figure out all that purple shit in his veins? I think it’s getting further along._

 _Well, no. I guess this is our best option,_ Jackie begrudgingly admitted.

Jameson suddenly leaned back, away from Schneep, and looked at the other two. {I think I understand what’s going on.}

“And?” Jackie asked, keeping his voice to a whisper.

Jameson chuckled silently. {You don’t need to keep quiet.}

“Oh,” Jackie whispered. He cleared his throat. “Oh,” he repeated louder. “So…what’s the problem?”

{I think Marvin might’ve tried to combine two spells,} Jameson said. {There’s a memory of him using his usual knockout spell, but that wouldn’t account for this alone. But I did find the remains of a clumsy sort of mental spell.}

Chase looked confused. “I thought that was your thing, not Marvin’s.”

{It is,} Jameson said, nodding. {But that doesn’t mean he can’t _try_ it. And, well…I’ll just say it, fail at it. I think he was trying to make some kind of complacency spell? Like the one we had on Jack.}

Chase flinched and looked down.

{But that required two people, so using that as a base for this new spell, it was already doomed from the start,} Jameson continued.

“So…what did this ‘failing spell’ do?” Jackie asked, almost sounding like he didn’t want an answer.

Jameson glanced back at Schneep, who was staring off into nothing, a sort of glazed look in his eyes. {Well, the attempted mental probe, probably combined with the shock of having one of his friends attack him, probably triggered one of Schneep’s episodes. A more severe one, too.}

“Can you fix it?” Jackie asked hopefully.

Jameson rolled his eyes. {I can remove the leftovers of the spell with some effort, but I can’t just miraculously stop the episode. The mind is a lot more delicate than that, and if I mess about with something like this, I could cause something a lot worse. We’ll just have to wait it out.}

“I didn’t mean to imply that—” Jackie stopped himself before he said something stupid that he would immediately regret.

“Um…” Chase coughed. “Is there anything that can help with…all this stuff Henrik’s going through?”

{Yes, it’s called medication, you should try it sometime,} Jameson remarked dryly.

“…oh.” Chase decided to stop talking too.

{I can start figuring out how to remove the spell now,} Jameson said, turning back to face Schneep, {but it might take some time to be finished. It’s been a long day. If either of you two want to go to bed, feel free to. I can get someone to show you where to go.}

“No, we’re fine,” Jackie hurried to say. “I’m not that tired.”

“I am,” Chase said. “But, uh, I can find somewhere on my own, if you just give me directions.”

{First door on the left,} Jameson said, not looking away. {Two beds, you can figure it out between you.}

“Thanks.” Chase stood up, allowing Jackie to take his place in the armchair. “Well…night, guys.”

“Good night, Chase,” Jackie replied. Neither Jameson nor Schneep said anything.

Chase nodded, and disappeared down the hall. Briefly, his hand landed on the gun at his side. He hadn’t much used it back at the cabin. Maybe he should’ve. Because he couldn’t help but wonder what Marvin was planning to do next.

* * *

Back at the cabin in the woods, Marvin was wondering the same thing.

“ _Fuck fuck fuck **fuck FUCK!**_ ” A mostly-broken chair was hurled at the nearest wall, breaking into pieces. Marvin knew he should stop destroying his own furniture, but he couldn’t help it. He was _pissed._ First those magicians came there, then those _assholes_ show up and steal his doctor, and with them was—he stopped dead in his tracks, gritting his teeth. Nope. Not going to think about him. He didn’t want to unravel that knot of feelings.

Well, at least he wouldn’t have to deal with the magicians anymore. Marvin kicked at the floor—it was covered in dead vines. That green-magic magician had tried to summon them at one point, plant life growing straight through the floor. They hadn’t been too difficult to kill instantly, but now they were everywhere and it was very annoying.

Marvin scowled, raising his arms together. Bright violet liquid pooled in his cupped hands. He tipped his hands over quickly, and the liquid splattered against the vines, eating away at them like acid.

Good. One problem taken care of. Now for the _multitude_ of others.

He wanted to go after them. He _needed_ to go after them. There was a burning core in his heart, a ball of hate that was searing away at him. He needed to get rid of it, he needed to get rid of _them._ He needed to see them writhe under his hand. But before he could do that, he needed to find them.

Tracking spells. He knew half a dozen of them which could work in this situation, but he also really _really_ wanted to see if he could do something…he paused, standing in the middle of the room. His eyes flared darker purple and he reached forward, strands of violet wrapping around his arm. His hand disappeared, like he was reaching into an invisible pocket. When he withdrew it, he was holding a thin, leather-bound book. A grin lit up his face.

He threw the book onto the nearest flat surface, which turned out to be the kitchenette counter. There was a title emblazoned in silver upon the green-leather cover: _Tracking and Teleportation._ Marvin brushed away the remains of the protective spell like someone would clear off cobwebs. “ _You can’t keep my stuff from me,_ ” he said, chuckling to himself. “ _Not anymore. Allow me to un-confiscate everything, one item at a time._ ”

He started flipping through the pages, quickly skimming over all the spells he already knew before he found something he still had yet to master. “ _Ley lines,_ ” he muttered, leaning closer to the page.

Leys were lines of power, crisscrossing the globe. Normal humans had been debating their existence for years, but to a magician, they were as real as the rivers swimming around the world’s surface. And just like rivers, they could be used for transportation. Though it would normally be difficult—the book stated that spells following the ley lines would take at least three magicians to cast, but Marvin was sure he could do it on his own.

Tracking spells via ley lines…of course, you’d need to find a leygate, a spot where multiple lines crossed. Luckily, these two islands on the edge of Europe were home to a whole host of those: there were more leygates here than almost anywhere else on the planet, excluding two areas on the equator. The book came with a map of the ley lines, and hopefully Marvin could use that to find a gate nearby that would suit his needs.

He folded over the corner of the page, marking his place, and started out the door. If those assholes were hiding behind protective spells, those spells wouldn’t do much against a ley-based transportation. Unless the place they were hiding on was directly on top of the leygate, which was very unlikely. Though he wouldn’t put it past Jameson to—

He froze. Oh. Last he saw Jackie and Chase, they were with…him. Which means they were probably _still_ with…him.

Marvin weighed the feelings inside of him. That burning orb of hate, versus that tangled knot of emotions. If those two were with _him_ , then he’d have to untangle that web to extinguish the fire. And…and that wasn’t worth it.

“ _Shit,_ ” Marvin cursed. He reopened the book, scanning the map again. There had to be _something_ he could use this for. Something he could do instead of looking closer at that knot inside. What else did he want to do? Who else did he—

Oh.

Oh, he remembered someone.

Marvin slowly started to nod. Yes, the previous tracking spells hadn’t worked, but sending a tracking spell through a ley line would avoid whatever protections were set up. And stepping through a leygate could send him there instantly, no matter where in the world he was hiding. Of course, there would need to be some footwork once he arrived there, the leygate might not bee _too_ close to his actual location, but he would be closer. Closer than the last time he tried a tracking spell, using that soul seeker.

Marvin smiled. Well, then. This could take some time, might as well get started now while he was still motivated. Time to find the nearest leygate. Maybe this could make up for losing the doctor. And with that thought, Marvin vanished through the open door, slamming it behind him.

* * *

For the most part, the night in the apartment passed peacefully. Eventually Jackie and Schneep went to sleep, followed shortly by Jameson. Jackie raised a few concerns along the lines of “what if someone, like Marvin, snuck up on us in the night” but Jameson assured him he had a system in place that would notify them of any potential sneakings. And after such an…eventful day, Jackie figured it was better to sleep than to keep worrying about that.

Jackie woke up later than he usually would’ve, confused for a moment about his surroundings before remembering he’d stayed the night in the apartment’s guest bedroom. He rolled over to look at the room’s other bed, finding it empty. Chase was up before him? Well, that was a first. Jackie sat up, stretching. He’d taken off most of his costume last night, leaving only the undershirt and leggings on. The rest of the suit was flung on the nearest chair. Jackie stared at it. God, it…it really wasn’t looking too good. Dirty, rumpled, and generally more ragged. He probably looked the same. Sighing, he climbed out of bed.

Chase was back in the living room, in the same chair he’d apparently claimed last night. His attention was fixed on a laptop that Jackie didn’t recognize, probably borrowed from Jameson. Schneep was lying on the sofa, still asleep, curled up under two spare blankets. The purple veins from yesterday didn’t seem to have gone away, but they hadn’t gone any further either. Jackie crossed the room to Chase’s side, looking over his shoulder at the laptop. “What’re you doing?” He asked. In a quiet voice, of course, he didn’t want to wake Schneep up.

Chase glanced up at him. “Local news site,” he replied, equally quiet. “Checking out if anything’s changed since yesterday.”

“And?”

“Well. I guess the police are still looking for us, so there’s that.” Chase shrugged.

“Shit.” Jackie sighed. “Guess we’ll have to stay inside all day. Again. For god’s sake.”

“Well, what would you want to do instead?” Chase asked. “We’ve ran into Marvin twice now, and he kicked ass both times. Oh, how’re your legs, by the way? Still fucky from all that black magic?”

“A little stiff and sore, but not too bad.” Jackie laughed a bit. “That magic cream or whatever must’ve done a really good job. How’re you?”

“Eh. I’m fine, as long as I don’t turn around or twist too suddenly.” Chase winced just thinking about it. “I must’ve been running on adrenaline all yesterday, because now it’s really just hitting me that my entire side of my torso got all messed up.”

Jackie hissed sharply through his teeth. “That sucks.”

“Yeah.”

The two of them fell silent for a moment. Just a moment. But then they heard someone yelling, somewhere else in the apartment.

Jackie stood up straight. “Who’s that?”

“Uh…I don’t know.” Chase closed the laptop, setting it on the nearby table. He stood up as well. “Who else is in the apartment?”

“Just Jameson,” Jackie remembered. “But that can’t be him.”

“What about his, uhh…” Chase coughed awkwardly. “Y’know, his people? There are a few of them around.”

“But they don’t talk, much less yell.”

The two of them stared at each other, listening to the yelling continue. Then in unison, they ran out of the room.

Turning down one of the halls, they found Jameson. He was standing in the middle of the corridor, back turned to the two of them. Yet they could tell he was signing rapidly. And in front of him was that magician from the day before, Yvonne.

“Don’t tell me to calm down, I don’t know what the _fuck_ is going on!” She shouted. Then she caught sight of Chase and Jackie. “Oh, it’s you two.”

Jameson looked over his shoulder. {Oh. Good morning.}

“Um, hi,” Jackie said. “What are you doing here?”

That was exactly the wrong thing to say. Yvonne seemed to crumple. Her clothes were torn and dirty, her hair a mess, and there was a red stain dripping down her left sleeve. “I don’t know!” She yelled. “I have no idea why I came here! Marvin almost killed me, and Frederick—” Her voice cracked. “—H-he might be dead. I think he is.” She blinked rapidly against welling tears. “I had to drag him out of there. I-I don’t know why Marvin didn’t follow us, maybe he knew we wouldn’t make it far. Ou-our car was gone, I-I managed to contact the Magi, but I was supposed to stay with him. I-I-I could’ve made sure that he—that he made it. But I left. Why did I leave? Why did I decide to walk all the way back here?!” Her voice rose hysterically on the last question.

 _Yvonne, please,_ Jameson signed. _We can figure this out, but not if you keep panicking._

“I have a right to be freaked the fuck out! My fucking best fr—my partner is dead, and I’m _here_ for some reason!”

Someone coughed behind them. Everyone looked at once. Schneep was standing in the hall, arms wrapped around one of the blankets from the sofa. He looked…tired. “What is all the fuss?” He asked.

“Hey, dude,” Jackie said softly. “Did we wake you up? Sorry.”

“Is fine, I am just wondering what is happening.” Schneep walked up to the group, eyes landing on Yvonne. “Who are you? Do I know you?”

Yvonne looked at Schneep, scanning him up and down. “Um…my name’s Yvonne Bell. You’re their friend, right? The one they were looking for yesterday?”

“My name is Henrik von Schneeplestein.” Schneep’s eyes traveled downward to look at the red covering Yvonne’s left arm. “Are you hurt? I can fix that, if you need, I am a doctor.”

“No, it’s fine, nothing a first aid kit can’t take care of,” Yvonne said. That probably wasn’t true, but she clearly didn’t want to talk about it.

“That looks worse than first-aid-kit-level,” Schneep insisted. “I just need to get my equipment, I am sure I have some here—”

“Hey Doc, it’s fine,” Chase interrupted. “You don’t look so good, you should probably go back to sleep.”

“But—”

“She’ll still be here when you wake up,” Chase lied. “We’re done with the beds, you can move there if you want. Just take your blanket and…why’d you carry the blanket out here, anyway?”

Schneep looked down at the bundle he was carrying. “I needed to hold something. Just in case. Protection, you understand?”

“Yeah, I get it.” Chase nodded like this made perfect sense. “But do you want to use the bed? It’s through there.” Chase pointed at the door to the guest room.

“Fine, might as well.” Schneep looked back at Yvonne. “It was nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you, too.” Yvonne’s eyes flickered down. “Nice bracelet.”

Schneep glared down at the plastic bracelet around his wrist, like he’d totally forgotten it was there, but had just remembered and didn’t like it. He turned on his heel, vanishing down the hall and through the guest room’s door.

“Is he okay?” Yvonne asked in a hushed voice. “What did Marvin do to him? Don’t think I didn’t notice those veins and the bandages on his wrists.”

 _He’s alright now, don’t worry,_ Jameson said.

“You’re sure? Is he normally like that?”

“Well, not _usually,_ ” Chase said. “But—”

“How do you know Marvin’s name?” Jackie blurted.

Yvonne blinked. Then took a step back. “Excuse me?”

“How do you know his name?” Jackie repeated. “We never told you, and I doubt _he_ did.”

Yvonne hesitated. “Well, of course I have to know his name, we were looking for him.”

“Frederick didn’t know his name,” Jackie recalled. “He kept calling him ‘the black magic magician.’ And weren’t you guys, like, looking for signs of black magic? Like you hadn’t known about it beforehand?” He narrowed his eyes. “So why are you talking about him like you know him?”

“I…” Yvonne’s eyes darted between the three men, who were all looking at her like they’d just realized how odd it was that she knew Marvin by name. She sighed. “Well, I didn’t know it was him at first, but then I felt him in the soul seeker, and when I saw him—I mean his eyes were never…like _that_ and he has scars now—”

“How the hell do you know Marvin?!” Chase interrupted.

“Look, I-I used to work in the undercover division,” Yvonne explained. “One day, we got word of some sort of black magic spike at a magic show. Turns out, who we thought was a regular stage magician was…an _actual_ magician. We’d never heard of him, so I was supposed to gain his trust, figure out what he was all about.”

“And so you’re saying…that you were friends with him,” Jackie summed up.

“I mean, kind of?” Yvonne looked distinctly uncomfortable. “He didn’t even know there were other magicians out there. Guess he didn’t think who was creating all the spells he was learning? After we figured out he was a novice…well, a _powerful_ novice, but still a novice, I was supposed to get him to stop using black magic, and register with the ABIM.”

“Guessing he didn’t,” Jackie remarked.

“Stubborn bastard,” Yvonne muttered. “Wouldn’t listen no matter what I said, just…just too obsessed with learning more powerful spells.” She sighed. “Of course, wasn’t long before he bit off too much to chew, and it blew up in his face. And I mean that literally, shattered that mask he wore and everything.”

Chase and Jackie looked at each other with identical wide-eyed expressions. But Jameson’s face didn’t change at all. He wasn’t surprised by this story at all, as if he’d already heard it.

“What are the odds that you’d be the one that was supposed to track him down this time, too?” Chase wondered.

“Not that high, actually,” Yvonne said. “There are so many ABIM agents per area. We have a lot to cover. So when we get a tip like his,” she gestured at Jameson, whose eyes widened, “we have to—”

{Enough.} Jameson snapped his fingers. Yvonne’s eyes glazed over, and her posture slumped.

“Wait, what?!” Jackie stumbled back. “Did—did she just imply that—wait—”

{It’s just a passing example,} Jameson said dismissively. {She was talking too long.}

“No no no no, that’s not just a passing example!” Jackie looked back and forth between Yvonne and Jameson. “Did she just mean to say—”

“Did you call the magic police on Marvin?!” Chase asked, incredulous.

{Why would I do that?} Jameson asked.

“I don’t know! I’m confused!” Chase shook his head.

“No, that—that makes sense!” Jackie started pacing the width of the hallway. “How else would you have known about the magicians in the first place? You wouldn’t want to attract their attention.Unless you were getting it to do something else. You said that you and Marvin had a fight, and when he saw you yesterday he went absolutely batshit, like this fight was something unforgivab—oh my god.” He stopped pacing and spun to face Chase. “When we got arrested! One of the cops said they got a tip! Sure, it was from some lady, but that doesn’t mean shit when we’re dealing with Mr. I-can-convince-someone-to-do-just-about-anything-for-me over here. And Jameson wasn’t at the house that day—oh my _fucking_ god.” Jackie turned to face Jameson, gaping. “It was you. You did it all.”

For a second, Jameson looked like he wanted to deny it. But then he seemed to deflate. {Look, I wouldn’t have done it if—}

“ _Oh my god!_ ” Jackie threw his hands in the air.

{No, you don’t understand!} Jameson stepped forward, reaching towards the two of them. Jackie grabbed Chase by the arm and pulled him back. {It was because of Anti. He stole my watch—and you don’t understand what that is. It’s what’s keeping me alive! He would’ve killed me if I hadn’t agreed to do it!}

“You seem to have your watch now,” Jackie pointed out.

{Well, he gave it back to me since I told him about Marvin’s cabin—}

“Oh my god, you sold him out _twice?!_ What the fuck?!” Jackie shook his head. “I thought you two were friends or something.”

{We are! Or, well, were.} Jameson’s face fell. {Believe me, I wouldn’t have done it if it wasn’t my only option.}

Chase suddenly burst into laughter. Loud, almost hysterical-sounding laughter. “Jesus christ, man!” He gasped. “I’m so fucking _sick_ of you!”

Pure surprise crossed Jameson’s face. {Chase? What do you m—}

“Look at this!” Chase gestured at Yvonne, still glassy eyed, having not moved once since Jameson snapped his fingers. “Look at this shit! You can’t just do this! Do you even keep track of how many people’s lives you ruin? Or has it gone on for too long? And for what?! Why do you do this? What, is it fun to you? Cause that’s fucked up! _You_ are fucked up, Jameson Jackson!”

Jameson withdrew, taking a step backwards. {You didn’t seem to have any qualms about it when you brought me in to take care of Jack.}

“Well at least I felt fucking horrible about it!” Chase yelled. “I spent entire nights just trying to forget what a terrible person I am by downing drink after drink! I went out and picked fights just so I could feel something instead of being crushed by the weight of my own awfulness! There were times when I thought I wouldn’t mind if I got shived by some gang member I insulted because that’s what I fucking deserve!”

“Chase…” Jackie said quietly, the word broken.

“But you! You just don’t care!” Chase continued. “You’re making people into your little puppets because of whatever bullshit reason you have, and you don’t even have the decency to feel bad about it! And you decide to turn your only friend in because there was a small chance you might die? Well guess what? If someone was blackmailing me to turn in that hooded vigilante or the doctor who runs the downtown clinic, I’d fucking tell my friends so we could figure something out together! Did that even occur to you? Or did you not care about that either? How easy was it for you to throw that all away? Because it _sounds_ like it was _way_ too easy!” Chase took a breath. “God, you are the literal worst. And you know what? I think I’d rather take my chances with the crazy Void magician than stay here with you any longer.” And with that, he turned around and stormed down the hall, disappearing into the guest room.

Jackie looked at Jameson for a moment longer. Then he turned and followed.

The next few steps happened in just a few minutes. Chase woke up Schneep again, telling them they were leaving. Jackie put on his suit again and grabbed the laptop Chase had been using from the other room. And the three of them went downstairs and outside, where they took the stolen car and drove away. Jameson watched them out the window, until the car was no longer visible.

He felt…

He didn’t know how he felt.

He thought that maybe, at one point in the past, he would’ve been able to name the feeling he was experiencing. But he couldn’t anymore.

All he knew was that it was the same thing he felt when Marvin left.

Jameson didn’t cry this time. Instead, he took a deep breath, and went back to find Yvonne, who’d been left on the sidelines during all this commotion. He had some work to do. Maybe that would make this feeling go away.

* * *

“This shouldn’t take too long. I know where he’s staying, now. If he’s not there, I can just wait for him to come back.”

“A-are you sure about this, Anti? You, uh…well, it didn’t go too well last time.”

“I underestimated him last time, and held back because of it. I’m not making that same mistake again.” Anti pulled off the patch, tucking it into a deep pocket. “It’s going to be fine, Jack. You don’t need to worry.”

“I’m gonna do it anyway,” Jack mumbled. Sam, hovering nearby, made a nodding motion. They would, too.

“I heard that.”

“What if it’s still not enough?” Jack blurted out.

Anti smiled. “It will be, trust me.” He looked around the room, one of the many parlors in the House. His eyes landed on a clock on the wall. “Besides, I’ve been here long enough. It’s probably almost morning over there. Who knows what could’ve happened in that time?”

Jack exhaled, slowly. “Just be careful.”

“You should, too.”

“I will.” Jack paused. “It was…it was nice having you here for a bit.”

Anti looked faintly surprised at that. “Well. Thank you, I guess. Nice being here.”

“Good luck.”

Anti chuckled. “See you soon.” And with that, he glitched away.

Jack sighed. “I swear, if he gets himself killed, I’ll…I’ll…”

Sam flew over to land on Jack’s shoulder. They suggested that if Anti died, they should kill him.

Jack laughed. “Yeah, exactly.” Then he sighed again. “I…I think I’m gonna go for a walk. Want to come, Sam?” They did. “Alright. Just hang on, then.”

It wasn’t a long wander through the House to get outside. Then again, it rarely was. More of that House magic, it would take you where you wanted to go. And sometimes, where you needed to go. Nothing much happened on the way out, though Jack did happen to pass by a conversation, overheard through an ajar door.

“—is certain that the danger will come from there.” A voice he didn’t specifically recognize, but it sounded like one of Mark’s doppelgangers.

“The gate?” That was Dark, and he sounded skeptical. “Nobody’s used those lines for a few years now.”

“Nevertheless, the—”

And then he was out of earshot.

Jack left through the front entrance, setting off down the road that would lead up to the House. He didn’t want to go too far away, just in case. But he liked these walks. Gave him time to clear his head.

He was some ways down the road when Sam suddenly jumped off his shoulder. “Sam? What is—” He actually had to stop walking for a moment. Sam was sending nothing but blind panic through their mental connection. “I-I can’t understand you, what’s going on?”

Sam sent a whole bunch of garbled messages. This feels bad, they felt like something bad was coming, they didn’t want to worry him, now they know what that meant, Jack, you need to go back, Jack, you need to get to safety, Jack, you need to _turn around—_

By the time Jack figured out what they were saying, it was too late. A hand clamped over his mouth from behind, an arm wrapping around his torso. There was a sharp acidic smell in the air, and in the corners of his vision, he saw purple lightning.

“ _Did you miss me?_ ”


	33. Can't Run and Can't Hide

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anti finds he has to delay his second confrontation with Marvin, for Jack's safety, and scrambles to come up with a new plan. Meanwhile, Chase, Jackie, and Schneep head out of town.

“ _So it turns out those famous protection spells are nothing,_ ” Marvin muttered. He smiled, brushing off the cover of the book he’d just retrieved. He set it on top of a stack of similar-looking spellbooks. He’d been so worried about other magicians taking his stuff away, and it turns out their warding spells were like tissue paper. He’d managed to pull eight back to him, reaching through the folds of the world to grab them from wherever the magicians were storing them.

Now…one of them had to have what he needed. Scanning the titles embossed on the spines of the books showed them all to be part of the same group of magic: magic of the mind, specifically. 

Marvin sighed. He probably should’ve studied more of this a while ago. But he never thought he would need to, not when he could ask J—not when someone else could do it. But he knew better now. You should never rely on others for help, not when they could leave at any time. Still, he was left to basically learn a whole new magic. He thought the basics he knew would be enough, but his experience with Schneep showed he clearly needed to brush up on—

There was a muffled voice behind him.

Marvin squeezed his eyes shut. If he was going to study, he needed no distractions. Otherwise he’d never get anything done. He rubbed his eyes with his arm, leaving black stains on his sleeve, and spun around. “ _I’m giving you one chance to shut up._ ”

Jack stared back at him, eyes wide and tears trailing down his face. He was sitting on one of the two intact chairs left in the cabin, arms tied behind his back, ankles bound together. There was cloth between his teeth, but it wasn’t stopping him from crying out, as loud as possible.

“ _One chance,_ ” Marvin hissed. He raised his hand, and a ball of black violet whirled in his cupped hand, liquid contained in a sphere. “ _And then I shove this down your throat and watch it burn away your vocal chords. Understand?_ ”

Jack nodded hurriedly. A few more tears slipped down from his eyes.

“ _Good._ ” Marvin dropped the sphere. It splashed against the floor, burning a hole in the carpet and eating through the floorboards beneath. Jack’s eyes widened further as he watched the damage the magic did.

Marvin chuckled, and turned back to the books. As he flipped through the pages of one of them, he briefly wondered if it would be a good idea to do something like that anyway. There could be a few benefits to Jack being silent. No drawing attention, for one. No asking anyone for help. And no distracting sounds. Of course, Marvin wouldn’t be able to speak with him, but they both knew sign language. Or maybe Marvin could figure out how to read thoughts like a book.

Hmm…it was an option. Marvin filed it away in the back of his head. He had other things to focus on right now. He found a page that seemed a promising place to start, and settled down on the only other intact chair left. Might as well get comfortable. This may take a while.

* * *

This was impossible.

This was _impossible._

He’d left forty minutes ago! How the hell did Marvin, in just forty minutes, get to the other side of the world, bypass the House’s protection, grab Jack, and come back? _Impossible._

Anti, incorporeal and invisible to the human eye, had arrived at the cabin to find it empty. So he waited for Marvin to come back. He’d been planning on getting the jump on him. He hadn’t been expecting Marvin to return, dragging his host behind him. For a moment, he’d been frozen. Then he’d fled, in case Marvin could sense him inside the cabin. Now he was staring through the window, the only one without a cloth nailed up to block the inside from view. From here, he couldn’t see Marvin, but he could see Jack.

A low, tense humming arose around the spot Anti was, the incorporeal equivalent of clenching his fist. Fuck, Jack was terrified. He could taste it from here.

He adjusted position, getting as good a view of the room as possible. He barely caught a glimpse of Marvin, bent over something. And there was an odd, glowing purple dome on top of the counter, like a bowl upside-down. Something was moving inside—Sam, probably trapped there to prevent them from going to get help.

But Anti was here. Anti could help. Anti could charge inside and finish this once and for all. But he couldn’t risk it. Not with Jack here. If it came to a fight between Marvin and Anti, which it certainly would if he burst inside, Jack was liable to be caught in the crossfire. He couldn’t…couldn’t let him get hurt.

A low static sound drifted through the air, sounding like a chuckle. Couldn’t let him get hurt, could he? Maybe he shouldn’t have left in the first place, if that was the case. He should’ve done more to keep him safe—but he was _supposed_ to be safe in the House! He should’ve been alright! He was getting better, he was ready to go home, and then this happened, and fuck, Anti could practically feel the fear coursing through his veins now, he was supposed to prevent this—!

Anti shifted into a physical form, sitting beneath the window with his knees drawn close to his chest, hands covering his mouth. The white noise in the air was constant, like the feeling in the air before lighting strikes. How…how could this have happened again? How could _he have let_ this happen again?

No, panicking now wouldn’t help Jack. If anything, it could get him caught by Marvin, thereby starting the fight he was trying to avoid. Anti closed his eye. He didn’t usually breathe, but he tried it now, focusing on in…and out…in…and out…

Okay. Time to make a plan. That would help, if he knew what to do next. Anti shifted back to incorporeal, and looked through the window again. It seemed Marvin was absorbed in whatever he was doing. Jack was distressed, but looked uninjured. Sam was stuck. Anti briefly considered sneaking inside and getting Jack and Sam out quietly, but with Marvin right there, he would definitely notice.

Had anything changed around the area, since he’d been here last? Maybe Marvin had set up protection spells. He could check that. If there was something, he could disable it, and that would be a start.

Yes, that was a good idea. Most people or things might debate the merit of leaving their friend behind to go check something that might not even exist, but there wasn’t a problem for Anti. He simply split, leaving a part of himself behind to keep watch while most of him swept the surrounding area.

There wasn’t anything nearby, so Anti widened his search. Until he ran across the road that cut through these woods…and there he found something, just not what he was expecting.

He almost missed it. Lying on the side of the road was…a man. Face-down. Which was an odd enough sight by itself, but what caused Anti to pause was the brief passing sense of…magic. Not just any magic. The acidic feeling of Marvin’s new Void magic, mixed with the faint hint of something…not as dark. Anti stopped, reconsidering the sight of the man. Ruined, torn clothes. He was lying in a puddle of dark liquid, and looking closer, Anti could see bright magic burns. Well. It appeared that other magicians had finally caught up to Marvin. But clearly, things hadn’t gone well.

The man’s heartbeat was dangerously slow, and he wasn’t moving. Anti searched a little deeper, and he could sense the man’s magic fighting to combat the corrupted Void magic currently eating away at him. The bright, clear magic must’ve been the only thing still keeping him alive. But it was fading fast, a sapling being choked by rampant, parasitic weeds.

Anti suddenly realized that this magician would probably die soon. He could do something about that. It wouldn’t be too hard to take him through a shortcut and drop him off somewhere that could help him. He knew there was at least one magician stronghold in the city that had the capacity to combat magic wounds. But the problem with that was that he’d need to revert to a physical form in order to carry the magician there. And he couldn’t do that while he was split, part of him still watching through the cabin window.

Could he do that? Could he stop watching Jack? The debate raged inside his mind for too long. In the end, Anti realized the magician’s magic would probably wink out in just a few minutes, and his heart would follow soon after. He shouldn’t let that happen.

Anti pulled the part of him back to the majority, and resumed a physical form. “Fuck,” he said. Then he leaned down and picked up the unconscious magician. “Buíoch as seo,” he muttered. “You better.”

This would be quick. And he could use the time to come up with a next step.

* * *

Some ways away, far from the forest with the cabin and even farther from the city nearby, a car was sitting at a motorway service. It wasn’t particularly outstanding, just one of several cars that had pulled off the road to rest and refuel. Though, if someone was to peek through the windows and look at the two men sitting inside, it would’ve quickly become clear that things were not all as they seem.

“Stop biting that,” Jackie said, slumped in the car seat with the belt unbuckled. “You’re gonna break a tooth before it comes off.”

Schneep glared at him. He didn’t say anything, though that was probably because his teeth were clenched around the plastic bracelet on his wrist.

Jackie glanced at it idly. “What is it, anyway?”

Schneep stopped trying to attack the bracelet with his teeth. “Utter nonsense,” he muttered. He thrust his wrist at Jackie. “See?”

“Huh.” Jackie scanned through the information on the bracelet. “They spelled your name right, don’t see that often.”

“Everything else is wrong, though!” Schneep protested. “Where did this come from? I did not put it on!”

Before Jackie could respond to that, the driver’s side door opened. Chase slid in. “Okay, I got a bunch of stuff.” He dumped various snack foods and sodas on the passenger seat. “And did you know they sell clothes here? Wild, I didn’t know rest stops did that.”

Jackie huffed a laugh. “It’s a motorway service station, Chase.”

“Eh, dialect differences,” Chase waved away. “Schneep, is there a word for this place in German?”

Schneep paused, glancing out the window at their surroundings. “Rasthof,” he said after a minute. “Or Autohof, depends where you are from.”

“Cool. Anyway, Jackie, I got you some things.” Chase threw a blue jacket over to the backseat, followed by a pair of boots and a gray beanie. “Gotta wear something other than that supersuit.”

“Yeah, I know,” Jackie sighed.

“Did you get anything else?” Schneep asked.

“Um, I got a pink beanie, some sunglasses, and a baseball cap with the store’s logo.”

“Give me the beanie, caps are for you.”

Chase tossed the beanie at him. “How’re you feeling, doc?”

Schneep scowled, pulling the beanie on over his hair. “I am still tired,” he grumbled. “I slept long time, I should not be tired.”

“It could be stress,” Jackie suggested. Or maybe lingering side effects from that mental spell. After all, the purple veins were still spiderwebbing across Schneep’s temple, though they’d started to fade and shrink. “Maybe you should take a nap while we drive.”

Schneep was already shaking his head. “I hate sleeping sitting up, it makes my neck crack.” He laughed. “Then I move it too hard and it snaps in half. Things spurt red.” He kept laughing, covering his mouth. After a bit, he leaned over, bracing his head against the seat in front of him. Chase and Jackie looked at each other, then back at Schneep. After a full minute, the laughter faded, and he sat up straight. “I would prefer to wait until we stopped somewhere,” he said, as if nothing had happened.

“Well. Alright.” Chase coughed awkwardly. He picked up a soda bottle, twisted the cap off, and took a drink.

“It may be a while,” Jackie said. “We don’t know where we’re going.” He sighed, staring up at the car ceiling.

“Well, I’ve been driving north,” Chase said. “If we go all day we should eventually get far enough away to…I dunno, rent a hotel room.”

“Um, with what?” Jackie asked. “I’m pretty sure that would take either card or cash, and we don’t have either of those.”

“We don’t?” Schneep asked. “Irresponsible of us.”

“Blame the police, they confiscated everything,” Jackie muttered, a note of bitterness in his voice. “And we can’t just shoplift a stay in a hotel room, like you can with all…that.” Jackie waved vaguely at the snacks and other supplies Chase had picked up.

“Well, maybe there’s something in here,” Chase said, looking around the car. “The magicians kept spare keys in here, who knows what else they have?” He opened the glove compartment and started rummaging around inside.

“Oh, yeah, they’re gonna keep a hundred euro in their car,” Jackie drawled.

“No, you’re right,” Chase said. His eyes widened. “Because this looks like more than that.” He reached deep in the glove compartment and pulled out three rolls of cash, tied with rubber bands.

“What the fuck?!” Jackie sat up straight, leaning forward. “These magicians were idiots! You don’t keep money in your car! What if it gets stolen?”

“Well, then, lucky for us!” Chase laughed. “Guess having magic makes you cocky.”

“Perhaps they had magic on the car to protect it,” Schneep said absentmindedly. “And they had to adjust it to allow you in. And that backfired in their face.”

“Huh. Maybe.” Chase glanced over at Schneep. “Are you chewing on the bracelet?”

Schneep froze. The bracelet was in his teeth again.

“Dude, come on, it’s not gonna come off.” Jackie smacked Schneep’s hand away from his mouth. “We can get scissors or something next time we come to a town.”

Schneep stared at him silently. Then he shifted his position, and started biting his other wrist.

“That’s not better!” Jackie pulled Schneep’s arm away. “There are bandages there for a reason! God, I feel like I’m trying to get a pet dog to stop scratching his wounds.”

Schneep glared at him. “I am not a dog, I know you know that. You are confusing me. Stop it.” He looked out the car window. “We should move soon, they are getting close.”

“We will,” Jackie promised. “But we should all eat something first. Especially you, Chase, you’re driving, you need to be in top shape.”

“I need to eat to drive? I don’t think you know how driving a car works.” Chase snorted. “Maybe that’s why you don’t have a license.”

“Shut up, and pass me one of those bags of chips.”

“You want Doritos or Lays?”

“Either.”

Chase tossed a bag back at Jackie. He sighed, and leaned back against the car seat. He took another sip of soda. It was going to be a long drive.

* * *

Jack would’ve thought this was a nightmare, if he couldn’t feel his heart pounding a mile a minute in his chest.

Memories were flashing through his mind, memories that had been suppressed for nearly two years. One moment he was in the basement, seeing something that was meant to be unseen. The next he was rattling the handle of the front door, not knowing there was someone on the other side. Then he was lying on a bed, staring at a silver disc swishing back and forth through the air. Then he was grabbing a gun and retreating downward, to the only place that was left to go—

There was a small hissing sound. Jack flinched, then his eyes darted to the small dome on the counter. Sam was staring at him, sealed inside. They rammed against the purple wall, and there was another sharp hiss. They fell back. It hurt, burned them. Sam told Jack not to focus on any of that right now. Panicking wouldn’t do any good, he had to stay in control.

He was trying, but it was hard to stay calm when that magician was in the same room as him. He could _see_ him. And he could feel the black magic radiating from him, like sitting near a furnace. It sent his skin crawling. Even when he tried to avoid looking at Marvin, that feeling kept telling him that he was _right there,_ fuck, fuck, what did he plan to do? What did he want with him? He couldn’t go back to being like—like _that,_ dead inside and trapped in a haze, he couldn’t, he couldn’t, please don’t make him—

_Jack. It’s okay._

Jack started, crying out. On the other side of the room, a book snapped shut. Two purple eyes turned their attention to him, glowing. His heart froze. He didn’t dare look away. Eventually, the book opened again, and the violet gaze turned back.

_Sorry about that, but there really isn’t a way for me to ease into this._

That voice…well, not exactly a voice, more like the imagined thought of a voice as you recalled hearing something said. Jack recognized it.

 _It’s me,_ Anti confirmed.

Jack bit back a sob. Anti was here.

_I’m going to get you out of here. But I won’t lie, it could be…tricky, while the Void is still here. Thought jumping inside would be the best idea. So I could wait, and so you could…know that I didn’t just leave. Hope you don’t mind._

Jack shook his head. No, he didn’t mind. Not right now.

 _Alright. Good._ If Jack didn’t know any better, he’d say Anti sounded relieved. _Now. Seems like he’s pretty engaged in whatever he’s reading, he tends to do that. How…how’d he get you here, anyway?_

He wasn’t too sure about that. He remembered going outside, thinking it was alright to do so, then getting jumped from behind. He passed out, and woke up here. He remembered Marvin said something, talking to himself about lei lines or something.

 _Ley lines?!_ Anti sounded surprised. _Nobody’s used those for a few decades, not since airplanes became commonplace._

What are they?

 _Lines of power._ An image of a map flashed in Jack’s mind, lines crisscrossing the globe. _Magicians used to be able to use them to get anywhere pretty much instantly. The problem is that they take a lot of magic to power up. So you need at least three people all casting the same spell at once, five if you want to be safe. It’s slower but easier to take regular transportation, especially if you want to be full of magic once you arrive. Hmm…if Marvin was able to power one on his own, for a round trip…well, it might be the Void magic fueling him, but he’s more powerful than I thought._

Was that going to be a problem? Anti nearly lost the last fight!

_I lost because I was surprised, and holding back. I don’t plan on doing the same next time. Don’t worry._

Jack couldn’t help it. This whole thing was new to him, he had no idea what any of this magic stuff meant, or what Marvin was going to do next—what he was going to do to _him_ next, fuck, fuck, what if he couldn’t break out of whatever spell he used? What if he was stuck like that forever?!

 _You won’t be._ Anti’s voice was firm, leaving no room for doubt. _We’re getting out of here, and you’ll be okay. He won’t hurt you._

He knew that should calm him down, but he was having a hard time of it. He was sick of this. He wanted to go home. He wanted to stop panicking, to stop being so weak—

 _You are_ not _weak, Jack. After…everything, this is a normal reaction. And you know what? You’ve been getting through this. Healing takes more strength than people would have you think._

Jack was crying again now. He…he needed that.

_You good? Ready to keep going, or should we wait a bit more?_

He nodded. He was ready.

_Alright. If you’re sure. Now, I have a couple ideas, let me run them by you._

* * *

Hours passed. The sun was starting to set. A car pulled into a motel parking lot, and out stepped a man in a snap-back cap. He went inside, and a few minutes later he came back out, and looked up at the orange-pink sky. “Dusk of the second day. Twenty-four hours remain.” He chuckled.

One of the car’s window rolled down. “The quote is ‘Dawn of the second day,’ dork,” Jackie said. “If you’re referencing the image I think you are. How’d it go?”

“We got one room, two beds.” Chase handed Jackie a room key through the open window. “I didn’t know how long we’ll be staying, so I just said three days, and they said if we wanted to stay longer we’d have to let them know a day in advance.”

“Got it.” Jackie pulled his new beanie down over his ears, then rolled up the window. Shortly after, he and Schneep climbed out of the car.

They didn’t have a lot of stuff to move into the motel room. Chase had grabbed a backpack at the motorway service, Jackie had the laptop and its bag that he took from Jameson’s apartment, and Schneep had a blanket that he also took from the apartment. So they got settled in the room pretty quickly.

“Not exactly five stars,” Jackie said, looking around at the room’s rickety furniture and peeling wallpaper.

“We are _running_ from the _cops,_ ” Chase stressed. “We need to keep a low profile. And yeah, this place isn’t the best, but it’s on the down-low. They didn’t even ask for ID at the front desk.”

Jackie hummed, then pushed open the door to the attached bathroom. “Well, at least this is clean.”

Schneep sat on the edge of one of the beds, throwing the blanket down next to him. His eyes scanned the room. After a moment, he shuddered, and grabbed the blanket again. His eyes seemed locked on something on the opposite wall.

Chase sat down next to him. “Hey, doc. What’s wrong?”

“I hate it when they just stare,” Schneep muttered. “It is like they are getting ready for something.”

“…right.” Chase looked over at Jackie, who shook his head, just as confused. “Um…what do you think they want?”

Schneep tensed, leaning back. “What else do Leichen want?” He swallowed sharply. “Maybe we should not go to sleep.”

“Um…well, it’s still evening, we don’t have to yet.” Chase hesitated, then put a hand on Schneep’s shoulder. He didn’t seem to notice. “And besides, if they try anything, guess what we have.” Chase reached inside his new backpack and took out his gun. “Hey, how about I stay here with you tonight? Just in case.”

“You mean since there are two beds and three of us.” Schneep nodded. Once. He hadn’t looked at Chase this whole time. “What about Jackie?”

“I can take care of myself,” Jackie piped up. “I have my own self-defense tactics.” He unzipped the jacket he was wearing, showing off the knives he had strapped to his belt. 

“Well, alright. If you are sure.” Schneep fell silent. That seemed to be the end of the conversation, but he kept staring.

Chase stood up awkwardly, walking over to Jackie. “Do you know what Leichen is?” he whispered. “I’ve never heard that one before.”

“Yeah me neither,” Jackie replied in a low voice. “Must be something not used in everyday conversation.” He crossed over to the room’s window, pulling open the curtains. Then he shut them quickly. Probably not a good idea to leave them open so anyone could look through and see them. “D’you think the police have spread word this far?”

“I dunno.” Chase shrugged. “I mean, from their perspective we disappeared two days ago, so they probably let everyone within two days’ distance.”

“So that’s a yes, then.” Jackie sighed. “I’m gonna see if there’s been any news.” He grabbed the laptop bag and hopped onto the room’s other bed, pulling the computer out and opening it up.

“Good idea. I’ll just…uh…” Chase trailed off. “I don’t know.” He shifted awkwardly on his feet, feeling out of place.

“You can turn the TV on,” Jackie suggested.

That was better than nothing. There was one armchair in the room. Chase found the remote and sat down, turning on the television mounted on the wall. He flipped through the channels for a few minutes before turning it off again. He sighed, and stared up at the ceiling. “What…what do we do next?”

Jackie looked over at him. “We keep going, I guess. Maybe we could leave the country.”

An expression of… _something_ flickered over Chase’s face. “So you just want to keep running, then?”

“Well, I mean, what else can we do? We’re being hunted by the police and also a…Void, or whatever the word was. We can’t exactly stop and let either of those catch us.”

If Chase was being honest, he’d almost forgotten about Marvin. Almost. “What if, one day, Anti just shows up and…I dunno, kills Marvin or something? You gonna keep running, then?”

Surprise lit up Jackie’s face. “Well, yeah.”

“Great. Just checking.” Chase sighed again. Something felt…hollow. That was the best word he had for it. But what else was he expecting?

He turned the television back on, to drown out the thoughts in his head.

* * *

Marvin only realized how long he’d been reading when he noticed the spot of sunlight in the room had disappeared. He looked up, seeing an early dusk outside the window, setting sun hidden by the trees. Had he really spent all day studying? He wasn’t even tired. But he never felt tired anymore, so that was nothing new.

He set aside the book he’d been reading, circular black stains now marring the pages like burst ink. He’d clean that later. For now…well, this wasn’t the type of magic one could master just by reading about it. Maybe it was time for some practice.

Spinning around, Marvin stared at Jack. He’d been mostly quiet all day. Good. Now he was sitting in his chair quite nicely, though his eyes had locked onto Marvin at the slightest hint of movement. Wide eyes, quick breathing…was he shaking? Marvin flashed a smile. “ _You should calm down,_ ” he said. “ _Get settled. You’ll be here for a while._ ”

That didn’t seem to help anything. If anything, Jack’s distress grew at that statement. Marvin’s smile widened. He snapped his fingers, and a cloud of violet sparks burst into life in front of him. The sparks burst, taking on different colors. Purple, blue, black, cyan, a hint of yellow. They danced in a…mesmerizing pattern.

Jack flinched, squeezing his eyes shut. Marvin sighed. Luckily, there was a remedy for that. He picked up a different book, flipping it open to a specific page. He scanned the words written. Hmm…they were a bit different than he was used to. Easy to mess up.

Something occurred to him. He planned to do this twice, didn’t he? Once he got his doctor back. Yeah, he wasn’t making the same mistake with him, he was going to fix what that first spell did. Wouldn’t it be easier to do both at the same time? The book didn’t recommend it, but he didn’t care. He could do it.

Assuming he could get the doctor back without…complications.

Marvin set the book down, folding over the corner of the page to mark his place. Where they all still together in one place? Or had they split up? Only one way to check. He stood up, walking over to the window, staring out at the trees. His hands formed a position like he was holding a ball in both hands. The space between them filled with black light. He hissed a word, and threw the ball into the air. It hovered, perfectly still. Four different trails burst from the ball, snaking in different directions like tentacles. Three stayed together, heading in a different direction than the one left over.

Marvin laughed. So they decided to leave J —decided to leave him, didn’t they? That made this so much easier! He didn’t have to worry about running into any old friends. He could do it now! “ _Oh, I hope you know that was a mistake,_ ” he said. “ _Who do you have to protect yourselves now?_ ”

He spun on his heel and headed towards the door, already running through spells in his head. The tracking spell, obviously, then he had to get there, maybe they ended up near a leygate but that was no guarantee, and there was definitely going to be conflict once he arrived, maybe he could take out the others while he was there.

He was so immersed in his next step that he didn’t notice the static shadow forming behind Jack. Or hear the whispered “hurry” as he left, closing the door behind him.

So close. So close to finally getting everything he wanted, so close to finding some way to put out this burning center of hate within. And once he’d done that…well, he had a few ideas. Getting the rest of his stuff back, for a start. Then maybe he could take out a few of those magicians, show them what happened when they sent their agents out after him.

Marvin smiled wide, eyes eaten by violet and soul consumed by black. He was going to enjoy this, more than he’d enjoyed anything in a long, _long_ time. And he would relish every second.


	34. The Branching Paths

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marvin catches up with the rest of the group.

It was well into dusk, no sunlight bleeding through the curtains blocking the window. Chase pulled them open a bit, eyes sweeping the outside. Looked quiet. But what could someone expect, staying in a hotel in the middle of nowhere? He sighed, and looked back at the room, not bothering to close the curtains. Schneep was curled up on the nearest bed. His back was to Chase, but he assumed he was trying to sleep. Jackie was in the bathroom. He’d been taking a shower, but the sound of running water had stopped. “Everything okay in there, dude?” Chase called.

“Yeah, I’m good!” Jackie was just finishing up, pulling on his supersuit again. It…wasn’t the cleanest, and there wasn’t a laundromat or anything nearby. He’d checked. But it was all he had. He stopped halfway, leaving the belts and external armor off. “I’ll just be a few minutes, need to dry my hair!”

“You should cut it off!” Chase shouted. “Your hair, I mean!”

“Don’t tell me how to live my life!”

“I’m just saying, the police—” Chase was suddenly cut off by a soft thumping sound. Jackie could hear him say something else in a softer, apologetic voice. Apparently Schneep wasn’t happy with the yelling. He probably threw a pillow at Chase for his offenses.

Jackie laughed under his breath, and grabbed the brush Chase had picked up from the motorway service. He ran it through his hair, thinking. Maybe he _should_ cut it. It made him easily identifiable, and as Chase was about to say, that could make it easier for the police to find him. Though if he cut it short he would just look like Chase or Schneep…maybe just a little bit? Like to shoulder-length instead of down his back? Jackie tried squeezing any remaining water out of his ponytail with a towel. It was still pretty damp. Well, cutting his hair would certainly make the upkeep easier.

Jackie pulled on his boots, and he was just about to start strapping on his belts when he heard a crash.

Then a scream.

And then a gunshot.

Before he even fully registered these sounds, he was pulling on his belt of knives, throwing open the bathroom door and running back out into the room.

Marvin was here.

The window was broken, shards of glass decorating the floor of the room. Marvin was standing in front of it, grinning like a maniac. He hadn’t changed at all since Jackie last saw him. There was now a new red stain on his shirt, courtesy of Chase, who had his gun out and pointed at the magician. Schneep was on the floor. He was crouched behind one of the beds, putting it between him and Marvin. His eyes were wide, and he covered his mouth with his hands as he breathed quickly.

Chase pulled the trigger of the gun again, the shot too loud in the small room. At the same instant, a purple-black wave of magic rushed forward. It hit the bullet when it was just a foot away from Marvin’s chest, bursting it, metal shrapnel embedding itself in the walls. The magic followed down the path of the bullet and splashed against the gun. Chase yelped, and let go. The gun clattered against the floor, glowing faintly purple.

Jackie pulled one of the knives out of his belt and threw it. He was a good shot; the knife spun through the air directly towards Marvin. It would’ve hit him, if the same wave of magic hadn’t caught the blade, melting it down to a puddle of molten metal. Marvin’s head snapped in the direction it came from. His smile widened while his eyes narrowed. “ _Oh there you are, Jaaackie_.”

“Oh fuck no.” Jackie pulled out another knife, though he didn’t throw this one. “Chase, get Schneep and get out of here!”

“ _Are you going to hold me off?_ ” Marvin’s head tilted to the side. “ _Should I let you try?_ ”

“Shut up! Guys, go!” Jackie spared a moment to think about the stupidity of his next move, and then he went through with it anyway. He ran directly at Marvin.

Surprise flashed across Marvin’s face for a moment, letting Jackie get closer than he should’ve been able to. And then he shook it off. He thrust his hand out, and Jackie was surrounded by a purple glow. Jackie stopped in place, and then was suddenly lifted off his feet and flung back against the opposite wall. Violet tendril burst from the wall, wrapping around his arms and legs and holding him there. “ _Haven’t had to use that in a while_ ,” Marvin remarked. His eyes turned to the other two. “ _Don’t think I don’t seeee you_.”

Chase had run to Schneep’s side while Jackie was attacking. Now the two of them were heading for the door, Chase pulling Schneep behind him. Chase briefly looked back at Marvin, wide-eyed with panic. He pushed Schneep ahead of him, blocking him with his body.

“ ** _Idiot,_** ” Marvin sneered. He reached out. More purple tendrils burst from the floor, wrapping around Chase’s ankles, then climbing up his legs to wrap around his arms, pinning them to his sides. Marvin made a fist, and pulled. The tendrils yanked Chase off his feet. Schneep cried out, grabbing Chase and trying to hold onto him, but to no avail. Chase struggled, but the tendrils were too strong. They pulled him over to where Marvin was standing. Marvin grinned, and reached down, pulling Chase up by his collar. “ _You know you’re the most useless,_ ” he hissed. “ _And that I never really liked you_.” A smile twisted his face. “ _So I have no problem doing…this._ ”

There was a burst of violet light. Chase screamed. Marvin threw him, and his body hit the wall hard, slumping down, motionless to the floor, smoke hissing from burned clothes and skin.

Jackie screamed. He twisted and fought against the tendrils holding him to the wall, but Marvin just laughed like someone would at a child. Schneep ran over to Jackie. But instead of trying to pull away the tendrils, he grabbed a knife from Jackie’s belt and threw it at Marvin. Apparently Marvin hadn’t been expecting that, because he didn’t raise any magical defense. Unfortunately, Schneep’s aim wasn’t as good as Jackie’s. The knife hit the wall next to Marvin and fell to the floor.

“Henrik, just get out of here!” Jackie kept struggling. The tendrils weren’t burning his skin like the ones from the van, but they were tight, cutting off his circulation. He could barely move.

“You are a fool if you think I will leave you here!” Schneep shouted. His hands were shaking, his eyes were wide, his breathing was quick, but he refused to move, instead trying to pry at the tendrils.

“I appreciate it, but what the fuck are you doing?!”

“ _It’s his choice to make, isn’t it?_ ”

The tendrils were growing, dividing. New branching tendrils wrapped around Schneep’s hands. He yelped, and tried to pull away, but it was too late. They were tangling around his arms now.

Marvin was suddenly right by the two of them. He snapped his fingers, and the tendrils fell away from the wall, dropping Jackie to the floor but staying wrapped around his limbs. “ _Glad to see you want to come back, Henrik._ ”

Schneep flinched, and looked away from Marvin, covering his eyes with his arms. “Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up—” The words hissed between clenched teeth.

“Hey!” Jackie managed to kick Marvin in the shin. “Leave him alone!”

Marvin looked down at him. “ _You’re not really in a position to make demands, are you? Either of you._ ” He leaned down, grabbing Schneep by the wrist and Jackie by the arm. “ _Come on. Let’s go somewhere less…public._ ” There was a puff of dark smoke, and all three of them were gone.

The motel room was still. There was murmuring coming from nearby, and the sound of wind whistled through the broken window. Other than that, there was nothing.

Until there was a groaning sound.

Chase pushed himself onto his hands and knees, wincing at the sudden bursts of pain that happened every time he moved. Half his shirt was burned away, purple eating away at the edges. He gritted his teeth, and tried to stand up. He cried out, and settled for getting into a kneeling position. He leaned against the wall, blinking away tears gathering in his eyes.

The door to the room creaked open. Chase’s eyes snapped up. In walked a woman with purple and blue hair. She stopped, looking down at Chase.

Chase stared back up at her in turn. “…you’re that magic’an…what’re you doin’ here?” he asked.

Yvonne didn’t say anything. She reached down and pulled him up, ignoring how Chase cried out. Once he was standing, she reached inside her pocket and pulled out a phone, handing it to him.

“Umm…” Chase looked back and forth between the phone and her. “What’re you…?” He stopped. There was something…different about Yvonne’s eyes. Nothing was off about the color or shape or anything, but the expression…they were oddly blank.

The phone started to ring, a message popping up about a number wanting to FaceTime. Chase narrowed his eyes, accepting the call.

The screen cleared to show Jameson, sitting at a desk. _Chase?_

“Fuck, you have the worst timing,” Chase muttered.

 _Don’t hang up!_ Jameson hurried to sign. _I want to talk!_

“Bad time, bro.” Chase swayed on his feet.

 _I know you’re upset with me,_ Jameson continued. _but I’ve been thinking about what you said, and I’d like to explain some things to all of you. Where are the others?_

“I don’t know!” Chase suddenly shouted. “They were just here, but Marvin the Fucking Insane showed up and took them away!”

Jameson froze for a solid five seconds. His mouth formed a small O shape.

“So, yeah, bad timing.” Chase looked out the window. “I…I gotta find them. They’ll be in the cabin, right? Marvin wouldn’t change that. But…I-I can’t get there. That’s like…a day away.”

Jameson coughed awkwardly. _Well…if you really need to get there, this magician…she’s good at teleporting._

Chase looked up at Yvonne, frowning. Now he understood what the blank look was from. God, Jameson could never give it a rest, could he? But…if it got him to Jackie and Schneep quickly… “I thought teleporting was hard. I thought they said so.”

 _Well, turns out she’s better at it than she thought,_ Jameson explained. _I may have…figured out a way to teach her quickly. It’ll take you a couple jumps, but you could get there._

Chase narrowed his eyes. “What d’you want?”

 _Nothing._ At Chase’s skeptical look, Jameson persisted, _No, I’m not tricking you or anything, it’s really nothing. Like I said, I’ve been…_ Something broke across his expression. _I’ve been thinking about your words this morning. Let me try and make up for…let me do this one thing._

His first thought was that this was bullshit. But he didn’t have a lot of options here. “Fine.” He looked up at Yvonne. God, the blank eyes were creepy. They always had been. “Hey, does, uh…your magician friend know any healing? Because Marvin kind of…got me.” Chase winced again as the burning pain flared.

 _One moment._ Jameson picked up his silver watch, running his fingers along the edge. After a moment of silence, Yvonne suddenly reached forward, placing both hands on Chase’s shoulders. Her eyes flared blue, and a sweet scent suddenly drifted through the air. Chase shuddered as some sort of liquid purple magic rose up from the surface of his injuries, dripping onto the ground where it hissed and ate into the floor. Suddenly, it didn’t burn so badly. _That was a purification spell, it should get rid of any excess black magic that would aggravate the wounds. But she’s no healer. Best you can get._

Chase nodded. “It’ll work.” He looked around the room. Spotting his gun, he walked over and picked it up. “Guess I’m ready—no. Wait.” Chase stopped, an idea occurring to him. “Can this phone make calls?”

 _Of course, it’s a phone,_ Jameson said, raising an eyebrow.

“Just checking.” This probably wouldn’t work, but it would be better than nothing. The number in this country was nine nine nine, right? “Okay. Let’s go.”

Jameson nodded. Yvonne walked over to Chase. She grabbed his hand. There was a poof of pale blue smoke, and then they were gone.

* * *

Jackie landed on the floor hard, but he was already scrambling to his feet. He was back in the cabin in the woods. It was now dark, hardly any light coming through the one exposed window. But Jackie could still see enough. Marvin was here, of course, a faint violet glow surrounding him like a blacklight. Schneep was there, on the floor and trying not to look at Marvin, with the magic tendrils from the hotel room suddenly gone. And there was someone else, too. Jackie gasped out loud when he recognized Jack. Jack probably would’ve gasped too, if he hadn’t been gagged.

“ _Here we are!_ ” Marvin sounded way too happy. He looked over at Jack and waved. “ _Look at this, we have a reunion going on here. Touching, right?_ ”

“You bitch!” Jackie pulled out his last knife and lunged at Marvin. He succeeded in stabbing him, the blade causing a splatter of red, but Marvin didn’t flinch.

“ _You’re all ruining my shirt._ ” Marvin pulled the knife out and tossed it away, then grabbed Jackie, wrapping his hands around his neck. Jackie choked as he felt himself being lifted off the ground. He clawed at Marvin’s hands, legs kicking limply. “ _You just don’t get it, do you? You can’t defeat me with blades or bullets. I’ve gone beyond that_.”

“S-stop!” Schneep jumped up, pulling at Marvin’s hands. “Do not hurt him! Please! Stop!”

Marvin’s face twisted. He dropped Jackie, who lay on the ground gasping for air, and whirled on Schneep. Violet eyes glowed in the near-dark of the room. Schneep paled. He started backing away, raising his hands. “ _I think you’re missing the point of me bringing him here in the first place,_ ” Marvin snarled. “ _And as for you…_ ” Suddenly, he was right in front of Schneep, grabbing him. Schneep cried out and immediately started struggling and wriggling, to no avail. Marvin pulled him close. “ _I don’t like it when things run away from me. Just ask Jack._ ” He grasped Schneep’s chin, twisting his head so he could get a better look at the purple veins, which were now almost gone. “ _Tch. I’ll admit I made a mistake, there. But I’ll fix it. And you won’t even remember any of this._ ”

Something cracked over Marvin’s head. He yelled, and dropped Schneep. Jackie threw aside the piece of wood he’d picked up, once part of some piece of now-wrecked furniture. While Marvin was distracted, he grabbed Schneep, picking him up and running for the exit.

“ ** _No!_** ”

Purple fire flared to life in front of the door leading outside, and then in front of the other doors in the room. Jackie skidded to a halt. He spun back around. “Why do you care so much about this?!” Jackie shouted. “I get it, you hate me, but why him? Why Jack?”

Marvin shrugged. “ _It’s useful having a doctor around. In case you didn’t notice, Chase, dearly departed, shot me again. And you’ve stabbed. I’d like to have that fixed._ ” He smiled. “ _Besides, am I not allowed to keep someone around?_ ”

“Not when you say it that way! They’re not fucking trophies you can collect!” Jackie held Schneep closer. He’d buried his face in his chest, and Jackie could feel him shaking. “Besides, if there’s anyone you’d want to ‘keep,’ I would think it would be Jameson.”

Marvin froze. Behind the scars and the dripping black liquid, his expression seemed…almost scared. “… _I—_ ” He suddenly yelled.

There was a figure behind him. Marvin turned around and grabbed the figure by both wrists. It was Jack, no longer tied to the chair. In one hand, he was holding the knife Jackie had stabbed Marvin with earlier. Seemed he thought it would be a good idea to do the same. Jack’s eyes darted over to Jackie and Schneep. “Window. Out.” The words came out in a raspy voice.

“ _Oh no, you’re not!_ ” Marvin growled. “ _I don’t know how you got free, but it’s not happening again._ ” Purple lightning raced from Marvin’s hands to Jack’s arms, and all along his entire body. Marvin threw him to the ground, where he lay, seemingly stunned. Satisfied, Marvin turned back to look at the others, not noticing the static hum starting to build in the air. “ _And it’s not happening to you two, either._ ”

Jackie felt frozen. Schneep had quickly lost whatever courage shortly after he’d arrived in the cabin, and now seemed to be paralyzed with fear as he clung onto Jackie. He could hear him whispering, phases about die lila Augen and die Leichen kommen. He had to get him out of here. But the entrance was blocked, the heat from the fire burning his back. Marvin was standing in between him and the window, looking pissed as all hell. He was running out of options. But if he didn’t make a move, then Marvin would attack.

He took a deep breath, and ran for it.

He didn’t get far. Another purple glow surrounded him, and he was thrown off his feet, causing him to drop Schneep. He impacted the ceiling before being slammed back down to the ground. For a moment, he lay there, the wind knocked out of him. Schneep got to his hands and knees and started to reach out to Jackie, but shrank back. Just as Jackie was starting to get up, he felt someone step on his back, pressing him back to the ground. “ _ **Don’t get up,**_ ” Marvin snarled. He pointed at Schneep. “ _And you? Stay there_.” Dark violet flames erupted in a circle around Schneep. He screamed, shrinking in on himself to avoid the fire.

“Hen—” Jackie lifted his head up, and tried to reach forward. A bolt of black violet hit his wrist, burning his skin. He cried out.

“ _No, no, we’re not doing this._ ” Marvin knelt on the floor, one knee still pressing into Jackie’s back. He lowered his face to Jackie’s level. “ _You’re stuck here now. You’re stuck with me now._ ” His voice hissed in Jackie’s ear. “ _And I’m going to enjoy what I have planned for you._ ” White noise was crawling through the air.

Jackie couldn’t help but shiver. Was this going to be it? “Why…why do you hate me so much?” He whispered.

Marvin stiffened. “ _Why? You’re asking why?!_ ” Marvin stood up, releasing Jackie. But the relief didn’t last long. “ _Because you ruin **everything!**_ ” Something kicked Jackie hard in the side. He cried out, and rolled over. There was another. And another. “ _Always getting in my way! You and your stupid morals that you claim to have! You lie to yourself, thinking you’re a better person than you actually are! Well, you’re not! You’re just a murderer with a fancy name and suit! And you’re done meddling with my plans._ ”

The assault let up. Jackie managed to climb onto his hands and knees. Marvin raised a hand and threw it down, a wave of acid-bright purple magic splashing forward. It splattered and hissed against Jackie’s skin. He screamed. Marvin grabbed Jackie by the collar of his suit and lifted him up with one hand. With his other, he summoned a sphere of burning violet magic, the size of a ping-pong ball. And he threw it in Jackie’s face.

If Jackie was screaming before, it was nothing compared to the sound he made now. His hands shot to his face, trying to wipe away the dripping violet, only for his shrieks to renew as it started burning his fingers and palms. Marvin laughed. He summoned another sphere, bigger this time, and pushed it into Jackie’s chest, on the right side, where it splattered and started dribbling, burning away his clothes and flesh beneath. “ _I didn’t know your voice could go that high!_ ” Marvin said, smiling wide over the sound of Jackie’s cries. “ _Take care not to lose it, we’ll be spending a lot of time together after this._ ” Another sphere appeared in his hand.

_BANG!_

Marvin stumbled to the side, dropping Jackie in surprise. He spun around. There was another red stain on his shirt, specifically on his shoulder this time. The static in the air was rising. And there was a neat, round hole in the glass of the window. And outside the window, there was a man pointing a gun.

“ _Are you. Fucking. **Kidding me?!**_ ” Marvin yelled. “ _You should be dead!_ ”

The man smiled weakly. “You must’ve missed.”

Marvin shrieked. “ _ **Chase Brody get in here so I can kill you!**_ ”

The window turned purple and shattered, glass flying inward. Marvin ran forward, reaching through the jagged edges and yanking Chase’s arm forward. He twisted the gun out of Chase’s hand and flung it across the room. And with a growl and another yank, he pulled Chase into the cabin.

Chase laughed. “Well, at least we go down fighting, right?” He swung a fist, hitting Marvin directly in the eye with enough force to throw his hand back.

“Or you don’t have to go down at all.”

Chase, fist pulled back for another punch, paused. That voice—

Someone tackled Marvin from the side, knocking him to the ground and making him let go of Chase. The two figures rolled across the ground for a bit, until they stopped, Marvin pinned to the ground by—well, he looked like Jack at first. Looked a lot like Jack, identical. But then one might notice the static hum in the room, having grown so loud it was almost unbearable, grown so subtly that hardly anyone heard it at first. And then the figure’s appearance started to lose details. The dye in the hair faded, the hoodie was just a T-shirt, there was a length of cloth slithering around the neck, and his right eye was glowing bright green—

Then the two of them, Marvin and Anti, were gone, and all that was left were red shadows drifting through the air.

The fires blocking the doors suddenly winked out, leaving the room even more dark. Chase blinked away the afterimages, standing up. What…just happened? He shook it off. There were more important things to think about. “Jackie!”

Jackie had fallen in a heap when Marvin had dropped him, and he hadn’t moved yet. Chase fell to his knees next to him. “Jackie?! A-are you…?” He hesitated, then grasped his shoulder and started shaking. 

A whimper. Jackie lifted his head, looking up at Chase. There was still purple magic burning across his face. “Ch…you’re…?”

“Yeah, I’m good.” Chase tried to smile. “W-well…I mean, I’m not, he got me pretty good, but he got you better. Or, not better, but—you know what I mean.”

Jackie tried to laugh. It turned into another whimper. “Wh…Hen?”

Chase looked around, eyes landing on the spot where Schneep was. He was curled into a tight ball, seemingly not noticing that the fire around him was gone. “Hey. Schneep? Doc? Henrik?” When he didn’t respond to his calls, Chase crawled across the floor, shaking Schneep as well. “Henrik, it’s okay. It’s over now.”

Schneep looked up at Chase. And then his eyes darted around the room, landing on things that Chase couldn’t see. “Mach…mach, dass es aufhört,” he whispered. “Bitte.” 

“It’s alright, we’re here,” Chase said softly. “C’mon. There’ll be more soon.”

Jackie managed to get to his hands and knees. And then Chase’s words registered. “Ch’se…wh’… what d’you mean?” Then something else occurred to him. “How’d you get here…fast?”

“Well, I…it’s a long story,” Chase sighed. “But…well, the magician lady showed up, and she got me back here. And she had a phone, and I…I called the police.”

Those words took even longer to register, but when they did, Jackie found the strength to sit up straight. “You _what?!_ ” He hissed.

“I wasn’t about to come here on my own! I couldn’t take him by myself!” Chase said defensively. “I told them to bring a whole strike force, I-I thought we could overwhelm him. I wasn’t expecting the glitch to be here? Was he pretending to be Jack? Why didn’t he jump in when Marvin was about to freaking kill you?!”

“I don’ think he would’ve killed me,” Jackie muttered. “I think…eventually, but it…might’ve been a long time.” He shuddered. Then, he tried to stand up. He cried out, clutching his chest and face.

Chase straightened. “Jackie—”

“Shut up. I c-can do this.” Jackie crawled over to the nearest chair, using it to clamber awkwardly to his feet. Once he was standing, he breathed out a shaky breath. It was a little better once he was actually up. A little more manageable. “Chase…how long until the police get here?”

“Um…” Chase looked up at the ceiling as he did the math. “I dunno, I called them maybe five minutes ago? And I told them how to get here. And it’s like, twenty minutes to drive, plus ten to walk, but police can speed so…maybe fifteen minutes?”

“We gotta leave.” Jackie started towards the door, walking slowly and flinching every time a step made pain shoot through his wounds.

“…no, we don’t,” Chase said softly.

Jackie stopped. He turned, looking back at Chase. His features were now almost hidden in the shadows of the room. “What d’you mean?”

Chase was quiet for a moment. He leaned over to Schneep, and, after a moment’s hesitation, pulled him into a sitting position. After another pause, he wrapped his arms around him, pulling him close. Schneep sighed a bit, fingers curling into the burned material of Chase’s shirt. “I mean…” Chase finally said. “That…I don’t want to run from the police.”

This was absolutely unbelievable to Jackie. He could only stare at Chase and gape. “We just—we’ve been running! We drove all day!”

“To get far away from Marvin, yeah,” Chase said. “But it looks like Marvin just got taken care of. So…I don’t want to run anymore.”

Jackie shook his head. “This—does this—is this to do with what we talked about in the police station? How…you didn’t want to…you pleaded guilty?”

Chase nodded.

“Chase…” Jackie’s voice went soft. “You can’t…you can’t _really_ want to go to jail.”

“I want to stop being a shitty person,” Chase said, almost too calmly. “And that seems like a good way to…what’s the word? Repent?”

“You can repent in other ways!” Jackie pleaded. He started walking towards Chase, but stopped halfway. “You can do charity work, you can apologize for anything you’ve done—”

“I can’t apologize to the ten people I shot who died,” Chase interrupted. “Besides, I-I…” He swallowed audibly. His voice lowered. “I can’t guarantee that…that I’ll stop. Even though I want to. I need to be somewhere that’s not an option.”

Jackie fell silent. It was starting to sink in that…this was really what Chase wanted to do. Not as a punishment or anything, but because…he thought it would help. And who was Jackie, to try and talk him out of that? But… “I can’t…Chase, I’m going to run,” he said quietly.

Chase nodded. “I know.”

“I might not see you again.”

“I know.” His voice broke.

Jackie paused. “What about Schneep?”

Chase looked down at him. “Hey Doc…how’re you doing?”

Schneep muttered something inaudible. It might’ve contained the word “bitte” again, several times.

“He’s…” Chase looked up at Jackie. “I think it’s gotten worse.”

Jackie was quiet. He finished crossing the distance to the two of them, managing to kneel beside them with only a few winces. “Hey, Henrik,” he said gently. “Do you want to leave? There are going to be people coming. You might not like them, but they want to help.”

Schneep looked up at Jackie, wide-eyed. “Help,” he croaked. “Yes.”

“Yes you want to leave, or…?”

Schneep shook his head.

Chase breathed out, slowly. He looked at Jackie. “Guess that’s it, then.”

“Right.” Jackie nodded. “Right. Right. So…so, um, our story. We need to get it straight, in case…they ever ask both of us.” He paused. “So, we were in the back of the van. We didn’t see what caused the crash, but I took the opportunity to get away. You were injured, so I dragged you out of there. A-and then…we walked back to the city. And I broke Schneep out, I-I climbed up to his window. You didn’t agree with any of this, but you didn’t have an opportunity to get away. We tried hiding in the city, squatting in abandoned buildings, there’s one on Chestnut Street that would work. Then I went to get supplies, and you took Schneep and ran.”

Chase nodded as well. “We found this cabin already like this. I’d stolen a cell phone earlier and used it to call the police on ourselves before getting rid of it.”

“Yeah, that—that’s good.” Jackie exhaled. He leaned back, looking over the two of them. It was hard to see them in the dark, but he could imagine their faces clear enough. His best friends. Friends who he might never see again. Tears welled up in his eyes…or, the one that was left, anyway. He suddenly leaned forward again, wrapping the two of them in a tight embrace. “I…I love you guys. A lot,” he said, voice choked.

Chase wrapped an arm around him, too, while keeping one around Schneep. “I love you too, Jackie,” he whispered in a tight voice.

Schneep leaned into the hug. “Ich liebe dich,” he said softly.

Jackie let himself stay there for a few minutes more, lingering in the moment so he could remember every detail of it. Then he broke away. He stood up again, and turned to leave, reaching the door. He stood with his hand on the handle, then turned around. “Goodbye.”

“Bye, Jackie.”

“Goodbye.”

He turned back, and opened the door. With a deep breath, he walked out, vanishing into the woods.

“He will be alright?” Schneep asked. “He was hurt.”

“He’ll be alright, Doc,” Chase reassured him, holding him tighter.

“I can fix him. I-I can.” Schneep paused. “I will fix him when he comes back.”

“He’s not coming back, Henrik,” Chase whispered.

Schneep stiffened. “Of course he is. And when he does, I will be here.”

Chase didn’t answer. He wanted to believe he’d see Jackie again, too. But he couldn’t convince himself. His mind didn’t work the same way Schneep’s did. All it could produce was a deep emptiness. Thoughts started to creep in, about how he drove Jackie away, about how he never deserved his trust and friendship in the first place. But he shook them off. He wasn’t a good person. But that didn’t mean these thoughts were true. And even if they were, he was working to make up for them.

Ten minutes later, the police arrived at the cabin, finding it empty except for ruined furniture, a stack of strange books…and two men sitting on the floor, clinging to each other tightly.

* * *

The sun had well set. The man sitting on the sofa looked out the window to see the city lights coming on. On his shoulder, a small green eye stared out the glass as well.

A woman entered the living room, setting a slice of chocolate pie down on the end table. “Hey, thought you might like this,” Stacy said. “We had some in the fridge, Jennifer brought it over. It was a little weird, seeing her outside of our sessions, but it was nice.” She smiled a bit.

Jack didn’t say anything. He kept staring out the window.

Stacy looked out as well. “He’s not back yet, then? Is…is that bad? He said it might take a while.”

“He said it might take a long while,” Jack corrected. “Which, for him, means…i-it means more than just a few hours, but…”

Stacy sat down on the sofa next to him. “Anti will be fine. He’s…I-I’ve never even heard of anything like him. He can handle his own.”

“I know he can. Usually.” Jack’s eyes were still fixed out the window. “But last time he fought Marvin…” He shook his head.

“Can we do anything about it?” Stacy asked.

“….I don’t think so.”

They watched the cars on the street drive past.

“You’re going to be staying here for the night, then?” Stacy asked.

“Yeah, I guess.”

“The sofa is new, it’s a sleeper. I have extra pillows. And a blanket.”

“Cool.”

Eventually, Stacy left, dropping off the needed sleeping supplies. But Jack didn’t move at all. He was staring. Looking at nothing. Imagining he could see across the city to that cabin.

And he waited. Worrying about someone, in the same way he must’ve worried about Jack for nearly two years. He hoped this wouldn’t take nearly as long.


	35. The After and Before

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things seemed to have settled down in the months since the disaster with Marvin. But Anti is missing. And meanwhile, Jackie's been having his own set of difficulties.

The sky overhead was cloudy, typical for a November morning. Looking up at it through the window, Jack wasn’t exactly inspired with confidence. But then again, he doubted any weather would do anything to ease the knot of nerves in his stomach.

“Okay, so, Matilda’s watching the kids,” Stacy said, popping in from the other room. “We’re all ready to go.” She paused. “That is, if you’re _sure_ that—”

“Yes, Stacy, I’m very sure,” Jack said, turning around to look at her. “I know you don’t want to…you know, and you don’t have to. You don’t even have to come, if that’s the case.”

“Well, who’s going to drive you? Sam?” Stacy rolled her eyes. “Where are they, by the way?”

“Here.” Jack patted his hoodie pocket. Sam poked out, looking at Stacy and bouncing excitedly before popping back in. “They’re getting big, this jacket has an extra-large pocket and everything. Must’ve hit a growth spurt or something. Do magic eyes go through growth spurts?”

“I don’t know, why are you asking me? You would know.” Stacy pulled the front door open. “Now hurry, we could be late. There’s a short window of time here, y’know.”

“I’m coming, don’t worry.” The two of them left the house, heading towards Stacy’s car. “Did I say thanks yet? For driving me?”

“Yes, you did, Jack.” Stacy pulled open the driver’s side door, gesturing for Jack to go around to the passenger side before climbing into the car.

Once in the car as well, Jack continued. “Well, I mean, I mean it. ‘Cause you really don’t have to do this, a-and I know how you feel about the whole thing, so the fact that you’re even driving me is really appreciated—”

Stacy chuckled. “Jack, are you gonna spend the whole drive doing this?”

“Um, I mean—”

“Hey, it’s no trouble. As long as you don’t make me go in, I’m alright. It’s nice to get out of the house. Besides, y’know, work. How’re your videos coming, by the way? Are you, uh…getting…the views?”

Jack laughed. “God, you’re such a mom.”

“Hey, I don’t know how this works!”

“You watch YouTube!”

“Yeah, but I’m not, like, involved in knowing all the behind the scenes stuff.” Stacy shrugged. “Or whatever it’s called.”

“Well, that’s fair. And yes, I am ‘getting the views.’”

They chatted a bit in the car, but as they got closer to their destination, Jack found himself falling silent as he nerves grew. Was this really a good idea? Did he really care that much about it? Well…actually, he was still having trouble sorting out his feelings. He’d been working with his therapist on untangling this knot, but they hadn’t made much progress in that particular area. But it felt like…he had to do this. He had to see how it all turned out, at the very least. Besides, he wasn’t obligated to stay if things started getting…uncomfortable. He could leave at any time, and no one would be offended. In fact, he was pretty sure most people would understand.

The drive was a little over an hour, but it certainly felt a lot shorter. Stacy managed to find her way into the parking lot, following the signs to the appropriate entrance and soon finding a spot nearby to park in. “Do you think I can stay in the car, or would they, like, kick me out or something?” Stacy wondered, pulling into the spot.

“I dunno. Better safe than sorry.” Jack stared out the window at the building. Large. Imposing. About what he expected. “You can wait in the…lobby? Reception room? Does this kind of place have something like that?”

“Um, probably something like that.” Stacy parked the car, and looked over at Jack, noticing the way his eyes were locked on the building. She cleared her throat, and said gently, “You don’t…have to see him, you know.”

Jack shook his head. “No, no, I know that. But I’m…still a little nervous, y’know.” He sighed. “Well…I-I guess nothing’ll get done just sitting here. Right, Sam?” Sam stuck their nerve-tail out of the pocket and waved, agreeing with him and telling him to hurry up while he’s at it. “Let’s go.”

Suffice to say, he’d never done anything like this before. He’d never even been to a prison. What reason would he have to? Luckily, there were signs pointing visitors in the right direction. Jack and Stacy followed them down to something that certainly looked like a waiting room. From there, they talked with a worker at a desk, explaining who they were there to see—or, well, who _Jack_ was there to see. The worker said it would be a few minutes, asked them to wait, and disappeared through a door while Jack and Stacy settled down in the empty waiting room.

Ten minutes later, the worker reappeared. “Alright, Mr. McLoughlin, sir?”

Jack hurriedly stood up. “Yeah?”

“Just head through that door, there.” The worker pointed at a different door attached to the room. “There’ll be a glass wall, don’t mind that, you should be able to speak through the intercom system.”

“…alright. Thanks.” Jack hesitated, looking back at Stacy. She gave him a thumbs-up and an encouraging smile. Jack returned the smile, then took a deep breath, and headed forward.

The room he was in was about the same size as a bedroom, but it was empty, making it look a lot bigger. The only thing in the room was the glass wall dividing it in half. On the other side of the glass was another door. He was alone in the room.

Jack ran his hands through his hair, and started pacing the room. “Oh, Sam, what am I doing?” he whispered. Sam reminded him that he could leave at any time. “No, I know, it’s just—how was I supposed to prepare for this?” Sam asked him if he was reconsidering the whole thing. “No, I just—I mean, no, but…” Sam said it sounded like he was having last minute nerves, and once again reminded him he didn’t have to stay. “Well I’m not gonna leave _yet._ Not before—”

The door on the other side of the room opened. Jack, facing the opposite wall, spun around just in time to see it happen. A man in a uniform walked in, leaning against the wall by the door, and he was followed by Chase Brody. Chase immediately noticed Jack, and froze.

Jack was frozen as well. For a while, they just stared at each other. Neither of them wanted to move, but eventually Jack did, raising his hand and waving a bit. Chase copied the movement. He looked like he didn’t quite believe what he was seeing.

“Um…hi, Chase,” Jack said, shuffling his feet awkwardly.

“Uh…hi.” Chase started to fold his arms, then tried to put his hands on his hips, then decided to try folding his arms again before giving up on the whole thing. “What…what’re you doing here?”

“I just wanted to see if…things were okay.” Jack swallowed nervously. “I mean, I heard on the news that…when they picked you up, you were injured, so I was…a little concerned.”

“Yeah, well…that was like three months ago, it’s basically fine now.” Chase took a step forward, keeping an eye on Jack. When he noticed how Jack tensed, he retreated. “I mean…thanks. For being concerned. It’s…it’s very like you. Very nice.”

“You’re welcome.” Jack glanced towards the other man on the other side of the glass. A guard, he guessed. “Um…how are things? Here?”

“Alright. I guess.”

Silence. The two of them stared at each other. After a few awkward seconds, the guard leaning against the wall stood up straight and left the room, muttering something that sounded suspiciously like “jesus fucking christ.” The door swung shut behind him.

Jack relaxed a bit. Just a bit. “Okay, but, are you sure you’re okay?” he asked. “‘Cause, like, the only way you could be injured when they found you would be because of…you-know-who, a-and that wouldn’t be a normal wound, that would be…you-know-what.”

“I think using the code words sounds a bit more suspicious than just saying it out right,” Chase said. “Besides, they don’t have cameras in here.”

“Really?” Jack asked, not bothering to hide his surprise.

“I know, I was shocked too.” Chase scanned the ceiling, as if looking for anything that could be a hidden camera. “I guess the systems in the visiting rooms went down and they haven’t bothered to replace them, yet. That’s why they sent that guy in with me. But he’s one of the ones who don’t really care, so eh.” He paused. “I mean…honestly, when I heard they went down, I thought that was because of your…friend.” He said the last word in a slightly pained tone, as if he couldn’t believe he was using that word.

“No, I don’t think so,” Jack said quietly. “I…haven’t seen Anti since…” He trailed off.

“…oh.” Chase looked down, deciding to fold his arms after all. “I-I mean, I assumed he would’ve at least visited you after he was done with—”

“No, I mean, I thought so, but he doesn’t… _have_ to.” Jack tried to smile, to show it was no big deal. Even though it was. Even though Anti had been gone for three whole months. Even though the last time Jack had seen him he’d been off to fight some sort of Void who’d previously kicked his ass, and who could probably do it again—he derailed that train of thought before it could run itself off a cliff of fear. “Anyway, are you sure the injury’s alright? Doesn’t like, black magic linger, or something?”

“It does. But, uh…y’know, it’s a long story, suffice to say that got…taken care of.” Chase looked back up. “A-anyway, without that, it’s just a normal burn, so it’s alright now. Scarred, but…” He trailed off.

“Alright. Tha-that’s good.” Jack nodded. “And you’re…like, really alright in here?”

“Yeah, it’s fine. I mean, this outfit isn’t the most comfortable thing in the world.” Chase tugged on the collar of the gray jumper. “Marvin and Jackie would hate it, they both had—have like, that thing about fabric textures. But, like, otherwise it’s…it’s not what I was expecting. A lot…looser.”

“It’s ‘cause you’re an American in a UK prison,” Jack muttered.

“Well, I mean, probably. But they don’t discriminate.” Chase laughed a bit. Jack, instinctively, laughed too. And that immediately got Chase to stop. For a moment, the two of them just stared at each other. “You don’t… _really_ care about this, do you?” Chase asked. “I-I mean, I wouldn’t expect you to.”

“About what?” Jack asked.

“About, y’know…how I’m doing and all that.” Chase kicked at the ground. “Especially after…everything.”

“I mean…I don’t want you dead or anything,” Jack said slowly. “And I don’t want you…hurt. Or anything. We _were_ friends, after all.”

Chase flinched at the way Jack emphasized _were._ “Well…that’s nice to know, I guess. Nice to see that you are…alright. Too.” His eyes widened. “I mean, not like—like—but I mean, last time I saw you, it wasn’t actually you, it was Anti pretending—but I wondered if Marvin had—”

“I’m fine, Chase,” Jack said quietly.

“…right.” Chase nodded, taking another step back before changing his mind and stepping forward again. “Right. That’s…that’s good.” He hesitated, then blurted out, “Did you know there are psychologists in prison?”

“Oh. No, I-I didn’t.”

“Yeah, I-I wasn’t expecting it. But, uh, they talk to the people who’ve…been more…violent.” He looked down again. “Which, I guess, is me. So, uh…there’s that.” He looked back up. “I…I’m still sorry. I’m so so sorry, I-I don’t think I could ever make up for it. You don’t have to accept it, but just know that…that I’m so sorry.”

Jack nodded, slowly. “Yeah, I…I remember the phone call. It’s…good to know you’re sorry. Thanks, Chase.”

Chase exhaled. “Yeah. Yeah. You…you’re not going to come back, are you?”

“Probably not,” Jack said honestly. “I just wanted to see…how you were doing. In person.”

There was no reaction on Chase’s face at that. He merely nodded. “Right. Well…goodbye, then.”

“Goodbye, Chase. Good luck.” And with nothing else to say, Jack turned around and left the room, not looking back once.

Now back in the living room, Jack bumped into someone. “Oh, sorry!” He backed up. “Guess I was a little lost in thought.”

The woman he’d run into looked up at him and smiled. “Oh it’s no trouble at all! Don’t worry about it! Wait a moment.” Her eyes narrowed. “Say, haven’t I seen you somewhere?”

“Uh…no, I don’t think we’ve ever met. But I do have one of those faces, y’know.” Jack smiled politely.

“No, no! I’m sure I’ve seen your face before.” The woman stuck out her hand. “Heather Bell, I’m with the _Criminal Insider._ ” She took his hand and shook it vigorously. “Maybe that rings a… _bell?_ ” She laughed loudly.

Jack laughed as well, though there was a nervous edge to his. He’d never heard of something called the _Criminal Insider,_ but with that name, he could think of a few people who she could be mistaking him for. “No, uh…very sorry, still have no idea who you are.”

Heather suddenly snapped her fingers. “Ah, now I get it! I think the surroundings reminded me, you know? You see, I came here to day to see if I could land an interview with one Chase Brody, and you’re a dead ringer for him! But of course you can’t be him, otherwise you’d be on the other side of this room, see?” She chuckled, then gasped. “Ohhh wait! I get it now! You’re Jack, right? The YouTuber! Jacksepticeye?”

“Uh…” Jack glanced over Heather to look at Stacy, who was getting to her feet from one of the waiting room chairs and hurrying over. “Yeah, that’s me.”

“Oh wow! I didn’t get it immediately because of the fading dye, see? I’ve only seen videos from you from before May—I looked through a lot of those!” Heather was practically vibrating with excitement. “Y’know there was a whole conspiracy about you—well, I mean, it was a very niche community and mostly taken as a joke, but who would’ve guessed their theory was true! Though I’m sure nobody expected the culprit to be a man you claimed was your friend. Oh!” She reached into her shoulder bag and pulled out a pen and a small black book. “If you’re feeling up for it, I’d love to get a few quotes from you for my piece! Only if you’re ready, though!”

“Uh…”

“Hey Jack!” Stacy walked over to him, stopping by his side. “Ready to go? We should hurry, we’re on a crunch, here!”

“Right, yes.” Jack sidestepped around Heather. “Sorry, but we’re on a timetable, we have to go now.”

“Oh, that’s okay! Maybe another time? Here!” Heather pulled something out of her bag and shoved it at Jack. “Take my card! Call me when you’re ready—but only if you’re ready, I’d hate to push too hard, bring up bad memories, see? Hopefully I’ll talk to you later!” She darted over to the desk, immediately chattering away at the worker behind it.

Jack breathed a sigh, shoving the business card into his hoodie pocket. “You think the word ‘irony’ would be lost on her?” He muttered to Stacy.

“Probably,” Stacy whispered back. “You, uh…okay?”

Jack considered this question. “Let’s just…get to the car.”

Once back in the safety of the car, Sam wiggled out from inside Jack’s pocket and flew up to sit on his shoulder, snuggling his neck. Jack patted them gently. As Stacy started the car, she asked, “But seriously. Are you okay? You went really pale once that girl started talking about…all that.”

“I just…” Jack leaned back in the chair. “Wasn’t expecting that. It’s fine, though. That’s just…” He laughed a bit. “Not the first thing I’d like people to say when they talk to me.”

“Insensitive little…” Stacy muttered.

“I get the feeling she didn’t realize what she was doing.” Jack shrugged. “Still. Not gonna be calling her anytime soon.” He paused. “It was probably just all a little…close to the surface, considering what just happened.”

Stacy was silent as she pulled out of the parking spot. Once they were on the move, she asked, “Did… _that_ go well?”

“It was a little…awkward, but yeah. I think so.”

“Really?”

“Well, someone’s skeptical,” Jack remarked.

Stacy spluttered. “I-I just—”

“Look, given how it _could’ve_ gone, I’ll take the awkwardness. It…” Jack pressed his forehead against the window, staring out. “It was…exactly what it was supposed to be. I went in, said the things I wanted to, and went out.”

“And…how do you feel about it?” Stacy prodded gently.

“What are you, my therapist?”

“Sorry—”

“No, it’s fine,” Jack waved away her apology. “I should mention this to her, though. She’ll probably ask the same thing.” He paused. “I feel…better.”

Stacy hesitated before asking, “Really?”

“Yeah, in a weird way. It’s like…like I’ve closed that chapter. I kind of felt this way after that time he called me, remember that? When I was in LA, I told you about it. But I mean, then the whole thing with Marvin happened and it threw everything into chaos, so now, I…I just needed another ending chapter.”

After a while, Stacy glanced over at him and smiled. “Well…if you’re sure.” She shook her head. “I just can’t imagine _me_ doing something like that.”

“Well, we’re different people, and we went through different shit with him,” Jack reasoned. “So of course we’d react differently. Guess you didn’t need him in your chapter.”

“Yeah, that’s probably it,” Stacy said. After a while, she changed the subject. “Do you think Matilda’s handling the kids well? They are a bit…mischievous sometimes.”

Jack laughed. “Yeah, I noticed. Don’t worry, she’s probably doing fine.”

“Still, let’s hurry home. For some reason, they act better around you.”

“I’m a good role model!” Jack said cheerfully.

Sam flicked their nerve-tail in agreement, nuzzling closer into his neck.

* * *

That night, Jack found he had trouble getting to sleep. His thoughts and emotions were running in circles, centered on the visit earlier that day. He wasn’t lying to Stacy when he said it had gone alright…right? Well, he felt mostly okay with it, he supposed. There were just a few things that wouldn’t…settle into place.

It was three in the morning when he decided to try to think about something else. Or at least, focus on one of the smaller details. Chase had apparently thought Anti had been the one to mess with the camera system. Which, honestly, sounded like something he would do, just to make sure Jack could talk about things like black magic without looking crazy. But it probably wasn’t him. Because why would he do something like that without first checking in on Jack?

In truth, Anti had never left Jack for more than a week. Ever since they’d met, even if Anti was off doing…whatever living glitches did, he’d still find time to pop in and visit Jack, hang out for a bit. The early days, he’d practically been by his side the whole time, but he soon learned to give Jack his space. But he never left fully, which Jack really appreciated, especially in the log cabin days. If he hadn’t had Sam and Anti back then, who knows where he would be now? Nowhere good, he was certain of that.

The point being, a three month absence was…not usual for Anti. Though he hadn’t left under usual circumstances. The last time Jack had talked with him, he’d dropped Jack off at Stacy’s house before immediately turning to go back. Jack had been reluctant, of course. He remembered reaching out to grab Anti just before he glitched away. “Hey!” He’d shouted. “Are…are you sure about this?”

Anti had looked back at him and smiled, something he didn’t do often, even for Jack. “It’s going to be okay,” he’d said. “I just gotta take care of this real quick. And I mean quick, you know? Gotta stop this before any more damage gets done.”

“I mean, yeah, I-I get that.” Jack noticed his hands were shaking a bit; the few hours he’d spent with Marvin had left him nervous, to say the very least. “But just…are you sure about this? Remember what happened last time—”

“It’s gonna be different than last time, ‘cause I’m going to get the bitch on _my_ home territory,” Anti cut in. His smile took on a wicked edge. “That’ll even the odds a bit, won’t it? Anyway, I’m not sure how long it’ll take, so don’t worry, okay? Promise you won’t worry.”

Jack had hesitated, then nodded. “Alright. Promise.” Impulsively, he darted forward and gave Anti a quick hug. “But you promise to be careful!”

“Alright, I promise.” He lingered in the hug for a while longer before pulling away. Then he undid the knot on his eye-patch, handing it to Jack. “Hold onto this for me, okay?” He smiled once more, and disappeared.

Jack woke up, looking over at the clock. Nearly noon, shit. At some point the remembering had turned into a dream that he couldn’t quite recall the details of. But he knew one thing: he’d been lying when he promised he wouldn’t worry.

He pushed aside the covers and sat up, disturbing Sam where they were resting on the pillow. “Sorry, Sam,” he muttered.

Sam stretched out, extending their nerve-tail to its full length and squishing their main “body” area. They were a little bigger than a tennis ball now; somehow they’d grown a centimeter or two while they were resting. They told Jack it was alright, but they could tell he had something on his mind. What was it?

“Just…something.” Jack stood up and walked over to the desk in the guest bedroom (really it was more of a small office that Stacy had converted into a guest room so it wasn’t much of a walk.) He sat down, starting up his computer. Sam flew over and perched on top of the monitor while he opened his browser. They peered down at the screen, then asked him why he was searching up times and prices for ferries from the UK to Ireland. “Why do you think, Sam?”

A few minutes later, Jack walked into the house’s kitchen with Sam on his shoulder. Stacy, sitting at the kitchen table with a sandwich and chips, looked over at him as he entered. “Hey, sleepyhead. Good to see you finally awake.”

“Shut your face,” Jack mumbled. “I mean…sorry. But I had a hard time getting to sleep.” He walked over to the cabinets and got the bread out of the breadbox, sliding a couple of slices into the toaster.

“Oh…sorry.” Stacy looked down at her lunch, eating a few chips before asking, “So…what’s up with you, today?”

Jack leaned on the kitchen counter. “Alright. This may sound insane.”

Stacy put down her sandwich. “What?”

“I want to go to Ireland.”

A long pause. “…okay,” Stacy finally said. “Why? Family reunion?”

“No.” Jack shook his head. “I was thinking last night, and…Anti’s been gone for too long. I want to go find him.”

“And…you think he’s in Ireland?” Stacy asked.

“Well it’s as good a start as any to look.” The toast popped out of the toaster. Jack grabbed a plate from a cabinet, then grabbed the slices and set them down. He walked over to the fridge. “Last time I saw him, he said that he was gonna try to get Marvin onto his home territory.”

“And…that’s in Ireland,” Stacy clarified.

“Well, not exactly, but I know a place where you can get to it. And _that’s_ in Ireland.” Jack continued talking as he pulled out the butter and the apple juice, grabbing a glass from the cabinet on his return trip. “I don’t actually know if you can _still_ get to it from there, or if you can, how’d you go about doing that. But…well, he’s been gone for a while. I want to…see if he’s still okay. Maybe try to help? I dunno.”

“Okay. I guess that makes sense.” Stacy pulled out her phone. “When do we leave?”

“When do we—” Jack was so startled that he missed pouring the juice into the glass. “Shit.” He grabbed a handful of napkins. “What do you mean, ‘we’? You can’t go!”

“Yes, I can,” Stacy stated.

“Well I mean, you can in that you have the ability to, but you shouldn’t! What about the kids? What about your work? At least I have a few videos prerecorded, you can’t do that for your work.”

“I have vacation days saved up, and Matilda can watch the kids again. She didn’t mind yesterday.” Stacy shrugged. “Anti’s always been nice to me, the least I can do is come with you to check on him. Besides, if I drive you it’ll be much faster than taking public transportation.”

Jack sighed, but there was a small smile on his face. “Alright, if you’re sure.”

“I am. So when were you planning on leaving?” Stacy looked down at her phone, tapping the screen.

“Well I was planning on tomorrow so I could do a few more recorded videos, just in case this…takes longer. But what would work for you and your work?”

“Hm…how about the day after tomorrow?”

“Great, I’ll buy the ferry tickets.” With the spill mopped up, Jack tried again to pour the apple juice, this time succeeding.

Stacy looked up at him. “You don’t think…we’ll run into any of them, do you? The others?”

Jack considered this. “Well, we know where Chase and Henrik are, they won’t be an issue. Marvin will probably be with Anti, so we should…prepare for that. I don’t know where…Jackson…is.” He suppressed a shudder. “And I have no idea where Jackie is, but odds are he won’t be going anywhere near Anti or Marvin anytime soon, so we’re probably good with him.”

Stacy breathed out a sigh of relief. “Okay then. Still, better prepare for the worst.”

“Yep. But before we do anything, breakfast.” Jack reached into the silverware drawer and pulled out a butter knife, spreading the butter on his toast.

Stacy glanced over at what he was doing. She made a face. “The toast is probably too cool now, the butter’s not gonna melt.”

“That’s fine,” Jack said, not looking up. “I like it this way, too.”

Stacy gasped, and shook her head. “And I thought you were cool, Jack.”

“I am many things. Cool? Debatable.” Jack chuckled. 

“Hip with the kids.”

“Now you _really_ sound like a mom.”

“I _am_ a mom.”

The two of them dissolved into giggles. And in that moment, Jack thought it was a good thing she’d invited herself onto the trip. It might actually be a little fun with company.

* * *

The sun set, and soon it was evening, then night. While things for Jack and Stacy didn’t change much, and life in that city proceeded as normal, the same couldn’t be said everywhere else. In fact, it would only take a few hours to drive over to a city where things had definitely been…disrupted.

A man was strolling down the sidewalk, looking completely defenseless and without a care in the world. That is, if you didn’t know what was inside the suitcase he was wheeling behind him. But it appeared that _someone_ did know, because as the man passed a small gap between buildings, that someone slipped out from between them and started trailing him.

The man let this happen for a couple blocks, just to see if the someone was really following him. Once it was clear that they were, and that they weren’t even being particularly subtle about it, the man quickly reached into his jacket and pulled out a gun, whipping around and firing at the figure behind him.

But the figure was moving even before he turned around, darting away and ducking behind a lamp post. The man fired again at the parts of the figure sticking out from behind the post, but missed, giving the figure the opportunity to run across the sidewalk, pull open the door of the nearest building, and duck inside.

Pulling his suitcase with him, the man ran towards the building the figure had gone into. The door was still swinging, possibly because the abandoned shop was in clear disrepair. The man opened it wide, then ducked inside, holding his gun out in front of him. He looked to the left, to the right—and then caught a whoosh of movement as something headed towards his face. He didn’t react in time to stop the thing—a staff?—from whapping him in the face. Gasping, he stumbled back. The figure from before ducked down, swiping the staff at the man’s legs just as he was taking a step backwards, knocking him to the ground. The man fell, trying to aim his gun but too disoriented. A hand darted out and grabbed the gun, wrestling it from the man’s hand and throwing it out onto the street.

The man and the figure struggled for a bit, wrestling on the floor of the abandoned shop. At first, it seemed like the man might win, with his clear size advantage. But then the figure slipped out of his grasp for just a moment, pulling out something that glinted in the slight bit of moonlight. The figure lunged forward. The man screamed, shuddering as the figure appeared to hit him once, twice, three times. Then he stopped moving. A dark liquid started to leak onto the floor. And the figure pulled back.

“Amateurs,” Jackie muttered, breathing heavily.

Jackie stood up straight, and immediately winced and staggered, leaning against the nearest wall. He stayed there for a moment, and pulled away the mask covering the lower half of his face so he could breathe easier. Once he thought he was alright again, he turned his attention to the man and the suitcase he’d left on the doorstep. Jackie walked over to the case, pulling it inside. He unzipped it and pulled out a flashlight from his hoodie pocket so he could better see in the dark building. Once he saw what was inside, his expression darkened. He growled, and kicked the suitcase onto the man’s body, a few bags of white powder falling out. “Disgusting. I bet your client’s gonna be real disappointed when they wait all night and you never show up.”

Sighing, Jackie pulled his mask back up. He put the flashlight back into his pocket, resheathed his knife, and grabbed his staff from where he’d dropped it. Then he turned and went back out onto the street, starting to walk down the sidewalk.

He only made it a few feet to the nearest street lamp before he gasped, dropping the staff with a clatter and leaning against the lamp post. He clutched his right side, making a small whimpering sound. “Fuck,” he muttered, looking around to see if anyone was nearby. Nobody was, not even cars passing through the street. Apparently this city didn’t have a lot of night life, especially in this section. Which was good, because he would look weird at best and suspicious as hell at worst. His supersuit had been heavily damaged by Marvin’s acidic black magic, so he’d been forced to improvise. A black hoodie with red patches was weird enough, but the belt of knives made it worse.

And his suit hadn’t been the only thing damaged. Jackie slowly lifted up the fabric of the hoodie, revealing the shirt and the bulletproof vest he wore underneath. Then, he lifted up the shirt as well, revealing bandages. He sank to the ground and gently started to mess with them, hissing under his breath every time he went too fast. Underneath the bandages, his skin was burned—not normally burned, but that sort of black magic burn that still acted as if he’d just gotten injured, even though it was more than three months ago. And looking at it, Jackie saw the burning had spread even further.

“Shit. Fuck. Shit’s fucked.” He tugged the bandages back into place, crying out as the material brushed against the sensitive burns. Panting, he leaned back against the street lamp. He blinked furiously against the sudden sweat dripping across his face. It felt like half his skin was on fire, constantly emitting a heat of its own. The other half of him was shivering, somehow cold. It wasn’t a pleasant sensation, but most of the time he could ignore it. But then again, ‘most of the time’ he wasn’t fighting criminals in a strange city.

But he couldn’t have just stood back and let them get away with it! It seemed this new city he’d been trying to hide out in had almost as many problems as his old one. Almost. He’d thought it would be manageable, but after two weeks of fighting, collapsing immediately afterward, then crawling back—sometimes literally—to his hideout and getting no sleep because of how much everything fucking _hurt_ —after all that, the truth of his situation was starting to sink in.

“…fuck, I need help,” Jackie whispered, looking upwards towards the sky. The movement caused the burns on his neck to shoot through with pain, and he winced again. How was one supposed to fix black magic burns? They used to have some salve that would help, but that was long gone by now. Most likely, only magic could fix this. But he didn’t know any magicians.

Jackie reached up, fingers brushing over the burns on his face. He cried out softly, but kept touching them, tracing the area around the eye-patch covering his left eye…or at least, the spot where his left eye had been. No, if he didn’t know a magician, he had to _find_ one. It was starting to look like that was his only chance.

Taking a deep breath, Jackie stood up, all in one motion. He immediately yelled and collapsed back against the lamp post. More deep breaths. Then he pushed away, using his staff to help him walk down the street.

He’d get back to his hideout, and he’d try to rest. Then tomorrow, or maybe the day after, he’d start looking for a magician. Part of him reminded him that he didn’t know how to do that. But most of him ignored that part and said he’d figure something out. He had to.


	36. The Art of Magicians

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While Jack, Sam, and Stacy are off on their search for Anti, they find something they could never have predicted to find. Meanwhile, Jackie looks for help.

It was approaching evening, and the rental car was driving down a road in the middle of nowhere. After a while, a building appeared in the distance: a wooden cabin on the edge of a forest, with a fence around a field and an area for cars to park. Instead of continuing forward and arriving at the cabin, the car pulled over to the side of the road, parking underneath a tree. The passenger side window rolled down, and out flew Sam.

Jack pushed open the door after them. He watched as they flew in circles around the tree, a smile on his face. “You couldn’t wait ten seconds for me to get out?” Sam briefly paused to shake themself like they were shaking their head.

Stacy opened the driver’s door and walked out as well, adjusting her backpack as she went around the car to stand next to Jack. “Okay, we’re parked. I dunno why we’re back here instead of up at the one building in the middle on the Irish wilderness.”

“Well, I don’t know who owns the cabin now,” Jack explained. “It _could_ still be my parents, but they also could’ve sold it and not told me, I dunno. Anyway, we don’t need to stop by the cabin. We just need to head straight into the woods.”

“Uh-huh.” Stacy looked around them. The car was parked behind a stand of trees, and on the other side of the road the trees got steadily thicker. “And what’re we looking for in the woods?”

“Um…that’s a very good question,” Jack said quietly.

Stacy stared at him. Then she slowly sighed. “Jack…you’re not saying we came all this way—across a channel of water and like three hours driving inland—just for you to not know what we’re looking for?”

“It was like, an hour and a half at most, c’mon,” Jack protested. “The country’s not that big.”

“Jack, th-that’s not the point.” Stacy bit her lip as she stuttered. “How’re we supposed to find Anti if we don’t know how to get to wherever he might be?”

“Look, I’m pretty sure we’ll know it when we see it,” Jack reasoned. Sam flew over to his side and nodded. “If it’s not all glitchy like Anti, it’ll probably be all shadowy.”

“Shadowy?”

“Yeah, when I first met Anti, he wasn’t doing the whole computer glitch thing, it was more like…like shadows, I dunno.” Jack shrugged, looking a bit confused. “I don’t know how to describe it, you’ll get what I mean when you see it.”

“ _If_ I see it,” Stacy said under her breath.

“I heard that.” Jack glared. “C’mon, just one day walking around the forest. It’ll be nice. A nature walk.” He suddenly grinned, biting back a laugh. Then he turned to the trees and shouted, “I love nature! So much! Hello, birds!”

Stacy burst into laughter. “Wh—what the hell? What’s that for?”

“Inside joke,” Jack chuckled. “Anyway, it’s already later than I would’ve wanted, so we’d better get started.” He reached back into the car through the still open door and pulled out a backpack to match Stacy’s. Shouldering it, he started walking. “We don’t want to be out here after dark, anyway.”

Suddenly paling, Stacy hurried to follow him. “What?! Why?!”

“Oh, my parents always said you don’t want to be out in the woods at night…” Jack trailed off. The two of them passed into the line of trees, and he suddenly laughed. “Y’know, they probably said that ‘cause of Anti. I mean, he can be pretty scary when you don’t know him, and even if you do!”

Stacy smiled a bit tentatively. “Probably. Still, I-I don’t want to be here too late. Though I did bring a flashlight. Oh!” She swung the backpack off, unzipping it and reaching it inside. After a moment of feeling around, she pulled out a ziplock bag of trail mix. “And I brought snacks! Want some?”

“Oh. Thanks, but not right now. Sam?” Jack glanced behind him to look at the eye following them. After a moment, he looked back at Stacy. “They’re fine, too.”

“Wh…can Sam…eat?” Stacy asked, looking at Sam with wide eyes.

Jack laughed. “No, we’re just messing with you. They can smell things, though, which is a little weird.”

“Oh, haha.” Stacy rolled her eyes, but there was a slight smile on her face. “You guys got me.” She fell silent, looking around. They were solidly in the forest at this point, though if she looked back she could still see the road and the car through the trees. Quietly, she zipped up her backpack and put it back on, opening the bag of trail mix. “Do we know how to get…around, i-in here? I don’t want to get lost.”

“Well, we do have compasses. Kind of.” Jack pulled out his phone. After a bit of tapping, he opened the compass app and showed it to Stacy. “And a map on the phone, too.”

“Yeah, well. Google Maps or Apple Maps or whatever only works with wifi,” Stacy fretted. “Do you have a paper map? I could’ve brought one, if I knew that we would be—”

“I have a paper map too, don’t worry.” Jack awkwardly reached backward and patted his backpack. “And if you’re gonna say, like, we don’t know how to read maps, don’t worry about that, either. I don’t plan to just wander around, we’re gonna walk in straight lines so that we can keep, uh, oriented.”

“Hhhnn.” Stacy bit her lip. “Al-alright, I guess we’re as prepared as possible. And I, um, guess they wouldn’t have super-detailed maps of forests the same way they do of cities. There aren’t exactly landmarks.”

“Of course there are landmarks!” Jack gasped, mock-offended. “I grew up here! Lived here for a few years on my own. Granted, things might’ve changed, but probably not too much. Forests are old, they don’t always change that much.”

“Well, I haven’t been around a lot of forests, so I’ll take your word for it,” Stacy muttered.

Jack shook his head sadly. “Shame.”

“Hey, I grew up in a beach town then moved to urban Britain. Give me a break.”

Jack grinned. “Alright. As long as you take a moment to enjoy this beautiful nature walk.”

“Okay, alright, maybe I will. Take that.” Stacy shoved some of the trail mix in her mouth. Jack laughed a bit, then turned forward again, looking around at the trees and their lengthening shadows.

* * *

Trying to find a magician was a difficult enough task on its own, but Jackie had no idea where to even start. He didn’t know how many magicians there would be in a given location, or where they would hang out, or if there was anything about them that would give them away when just looking at them. All he really had were three references for what magicians were like. And one of them was Marvin, and _he_ was an asshole who didn’t mingle with the rest of the magical population, thereby not counting as a good reference.

Still, this was a big city. There had to be magicians living here. Maybe if he asked enough people, he’d eventually find one. It was a shit plan, if Jackie was being honest with himself, but he grimly acknowledged that he didn’t have many options, and he _really_ needed magical aid.

He’d spent all of yesterday wandering around, trying to figure out where magicians would hang out. His reasoning was that they would either be in places with lots of crowds, so they could blend in, or places that were basically empty, so they could do whatever magic shit they did without worrying about being interrupted. So, whenever he found a place he thought might be suited, Jackie would stop people and start asking about magic. He was well aware that this made him look insane, but he didn’t care at this point. So what if a lot of the people didn’t respond, or gave him weird looks, or quickly crossed to the other side of the street? If he asked a lot of people, at least one of them was bound to know what he was talking about. Right?

Of course, by the end of the first day, Jackie was already thinking there had to be a better way than this. He collapsed back in his hideout and immediately cried out as the sudden movement aggravated his burns. All the walking and activity were just making them worse…maybe there was a more efficient way to go about this. He just needed a better plan.

And then he woke up the next morning without a better plan.

“Fuck…everything…” Jackie hissed under his breath. “And especially fuck you, Marvin, you furry asshole bitch.” He tried to flip off the air, then winced, and switched hands. It seemed like today the burns on his right arm had decided to be especially agonizing.

Sighing, Jackie stood up. Once on his feet, he paused to take a breather, looking around at his hideout. This city didn’t have a lot of abandoned buildings compared to back home, which was generally good, but bad for him. Luckily, he’d found this place. It seemed to have been a hotel once, but now it was run-down and dusty. He’d chosen it because 1) it was fairly central in the city, and 2) for whatever reason, it still had all the furniture. In the lobby, at least. He hadn’t tried to go upstairs to the rooms yet. Stairs sucked.

Now confident that the pain had faded as much as it would, Jackie grabbed his hoodie from the nearest table, slowly pulling it on over his shirt. He then picked up a switchblade and stuffed it in the pocket, then grabbed a small shoulder bag he’d lifted from a nearby shop. Checking inside, he saw the bag still contained his flashlight and a bag of potato chips. That was probably all he needed for today. So he slung the bag over his shoulder and headed out.

It was around noon when Jackie started out, and by two in the afternoon he’d lost hope that today would be any different than yesterday. Still, he kept going for an hour more before stopping to take a break, sitting on a low stone wall that surrounded a small park. “God, what am I doing?” he muttered, going to rub his eyes and only stopping when he hit the eye-patch. “What in the hell…am I doing? Maybe there are no magicians in this city, and me going around like this will draw too much attention to myself. There’s still a bunch of fucking cops after me…fuck them. But hey, maybe I’ll _die_ and they won’t have to worry about me anymore!” He laughed hysterically.

After a moment, Jackie turned his attention to his surroundings. There weren’t a lot of people out today, compared to yesterday. But there was a group of four women walking down the sidewalk on the other side of the street. He watched them for a bit, then sighed. Standing up, he ran across the—fortunately empty—street, and soon he was following a few steps behind them.

The group was talking among themselves. Or, well, three of them were listening to the last one, a small woman with mousy hair pulled back in a short ponytail. “—and I have all the permits from the county and everything, so that’s not a problem. It must be something with the staff there.”

“Maybe he just doesn’t want to talk to you, H,” said a woman in a blue shirt.

“That’s ridiculous! Who _wouldn’t_ want the chance to get their story out there? And I’ve been doing this for a long time, y’know, and believe me, a lot of these guys are so _ready_ to talk to someone, y’know?” The ponytail woman laughed.

“You’re not gonna have a problem with being over here, are you?” asked a woman in a black shirt. “I mean, it is a bit of a drive back.”

“Eh, it’s just a few hours,” Ponytail Woman shrugged. “Besides, it was worth it to see you guys again. Everything’s been so tense lately.”

Blue Shirt and Black Shirt murmured agreements, but the last member of the group, a woman in a green skirt, had glanced over her shoulder and noticed Jackie following them. She narrowed her eyes. “Um, can we help you?”

“Um, maybe,” Jackie said, drawing the other three’s attention as well. “I know this is gonna make me sound crazy, but do any of you know where I can find a magician?”

All four of the group exchanged glances. “Um…I think if you look online, it shouldn’t be too hard to find one,” Blue Shirt suggested. “Do you need one to, like, preform somewhere…?”

“No, I don’t mean like a stage magician,” Jackie said, shaking his head. “I mean like a real magician. Y’know, with real magic. That can cast spells and they’re all glowy and shit.”

Three of them looked distinctly uncomfortable, and Jackie noticed how Green Skirt reached inside her purse and appeared to grab something. But Ponytail Woman stayed friendly. “You mean, like, with spell words? Like Harry Potter?” 

“Heather!” Black Shirt hissed, and leaned closer to say something. Jackie could barely make it out, but he thought he picked up “…homeless-looking man with an eye-patch and crazy hair, you should know better.”

“My hair’s not _that_ crazy,” Jackie protested. Actually, it was pretty bad. Part of it had gotten burned shorter by Marvin’s black magic, and Jackie himself had attacked it with a knife on one of his first nights in the new city in an attempt to disguise himself. The result was random chunks of hair cut to random lengths. He…wasn’t sure he’d been entirely mentally alright when trying to cut it. Maybe the pain had gotten to him that night. “Anyway, I swear, I just need to find a magician. I really need one. For help. It wouldn’t concern any of you, unless you guys are magicians, I guess…?” Realizing this was not helping him seem less crazy, Jackie smiled, trying to reassure them.

Apparently it didn’t work. Blue Shirt started backing up, while Black Shirt side-stepped in front of Ponytail Woman. Green Skirt pulled something out of her purse—a small spray can of some kind. “We don’t know what you’re talking about, so you should really bugger off right now,” she said threateningly.

Jackie took a few steps back. “Right. Of course. Sorry about the trouble.” He hesitated, then rushed out, “But if you do know anything, I would really appreciate—”

“Wait, do I know you?” Ponytail Woman suddenly said, peering around Black Shirt. “I think I’ve seen your face before. Except not as…‘I-just-came-out-of-a-burning-building’ looking.”

“Heather!” Black Shirt and Blue Shirt said in unison.

“Um…I don’t know you,” Jackie said.

“That’s right, and you’re not going to get to know her,” Green Skirt said, glaring at him.

“Right. Right. I’ll, uh…not be seeing you, then.” Jackie backed up, then turned and ran, only getting about a block before stopping to lean against the nearest wall, shuddering. Looking back over his shoulder, he saw the group was hurriedly walking away in the opposite direction. He didn’t blame them.

Not having much else to do, Jackie continued his search for another few hours, keeping with his method of stopping random passerby and asking them about magicians. None of them had any idea what he was talking about, to put it mildly. There had to be a better way to go about this. And in a flash, Jackie realized that if he’d tried looking for magicians sooner instead of trying to keep up his vigilante work once he’d arrived in the city, he maybe could’ve formed a better plan and gotten help long before the burns started to become a problem—or, well, an even more serious problem.

The thought that he could’ve maybe avoided this…it was a thought that didn’t stick well with him. Uneasily, he decided to head back to the hideout. It was around five, anyway, and in November that meant that it was starting to become twilight. He’d been out all day, and he was hurting all over, like white-hot sparks were constantly landing on his skin.

Luckily, he was in the center of the city, and thus not too far from the old hotel. Jackie was back, walking through the old double doors not soon after they turned the streetlamps on. “Honey, I’m home,” he called, then chuckled weakly. “More like, ‘honey, I’m trash.’ Wasn’t that a thing of Jack’s…? Eh…”

It felt like everything was on fire. Or at least, most things were on fire, and the things that weren’t on fire were exhausted and shivery. “Maybe…walking all day for two days in a row…was a bad idea,” Jackie muttered. “…I’m usually better at planning than this, I swear….Wait, who ‘m I talking to? No one. Fuck.”

Jackie stumbled over towards the nearest bit of furniture, an old, dusty sofa. And he immediately collapsed onto it. For a moment, he just stayed there, face-down. Then the pain overcame exhaustion, and he managed to roll over onto his left side. Though that just rubbed the burns on his face against the sofa cushions, causing them to flare. With a small whimper, he twisted his head so he was looking up, even if his body was curled sideways. It wasn’t the most comfortable position, but it didn’t hurt, so that was a plus.

He figured he’d try to use some of this time to figure out a better way to go about finding the magicians.

But within ten minutes, he was asleep.

He didn’t even stir when the doors opened only thirty minutes later.

* * *

“Um…Jack?”

A flashlight beam waved around on the ground in front of Jack. He blinked and shook his head, looking back at Stacy following him. “What?” He asked, shining his own flashlight at her face.

“Aah! Be careful, Jack, th-that was in my eyes.” Stacy raised her hand, blocking the light.”

“Oh, sorry.” Jack lowered it. “Anyway, what is it?”

“Well, um…” Stacy’s eyes darted around the trees surrounding them. “Are we…lost?”

“What? No, we should be heading back to the car now.” Jack paused, also looking around, shining his light. The forest was a lot more intimidating at night. His mind was flashing through all the horror games he’d ever played—or at least the ones that took place in the woods, which were a surprisingly large percentage of them. Frowning, Jack tucked his flashlight under his arm. “Hang on a sec.” He reached into his pocket and took out the map and his phone. Quickly, he unfolded the paper map and opened the compass app on his phone. At Stacy’s insistence, he’d borrowed her pen and made lines following the ways they’d gone. “Yeah, we should be seeing it any minute. I know, it’s not familiar, but we’re taking a different way back.”

“No, I get that, I know how that works,” Stacy said. “But, um…” She shone her flashlight at a spot on the ground. “I swear we’ve seen that branch-and-rock configuration twice before.”

Jack looked at the configuration in question. It was pretty distinctive, two large rocks big enough to sit on, with a fallen branch wedged between them. Now that he was thinking about it, the combination did look kind of familiar. “Maybe…” Jack looked around. “I think we’ve been walking in a straight line. Maybe I was wrong?”

“Oh my god, we’re lost,” Stacy whispered, eyes wide.

“No, no, we’re not lost. We’re just a bit confused.” Jack realized they were probably lost. He patted Sam, resting on his shoulder. “Hey Sam, can you fly ahead a bit? We should be, like, really close to the car.”

Sam shook themself, then lifted up into the air. They nodded, and agreed to do so. Jack and Stacy watched as they flew forward in the straightest line possible. They watched for about a minute, and then Sam’s glow suddenly disappeared.

“Oh, uh…” Jack glanced at Stacy. “I think they…went behind a tree?”

Stacy didn’t answer, clutching her flashlight tighter as she shone it after Sam.

About another minute passed in silence, and then Jack heard Sam call his name. He turned around to see them approaching from behind. They hovered in front of Jack’s face, and asked how the two of them got in front of them. “We didn’t…did you accidentally circle around or something?” Jack asked, confused. Sam said no. Firmly. “Well, that’s weird.”

“What’s weird?!” Stacy asked, not bothering to hide her alarm.

“Um…wait here for a second. Both of you.” Jack cast his flashlight around the floor, and picked up a long, sturdy stick. Walking backwards, he headed in the same direction Sam had gone. As he did so, he dragged the stick along the forest floor, leaving a distinct line in the dirt and undergrowth.

About a minute later, he suddenly couldn’t see Stacy’s flashlight or Sam’s glow anymore. But he kept going. And soon he heard Stacy shout, “Jack?!”

Jack looked over his shoulder and saw Stacy and Sam, in the same spot as before. He walked up to them, still dragging the stick. The line he’d made on the forest floor when leaving the group was still there. “…huh,” Jack said. “One more minute.”

He repeated the same process, but now heading in a direction perpendicular from the way he went before. And about two minutes later, he rejoined the group, coming from the other direction. Baffled and a little frustrated, he dropped the stick and looked at the others. “So…I think we’re stuck in some kind of loop.”

“Uh…” Stacy’s head darted back and forth, eyes scanning the trees. “You mean we’re stuck in—in this specific part of the forest?!”

“…yyyeah,” Jack said slowly. “Whenever any of us try to leave, we just…end up here again.”

“Well, how the _fuck_ are we supposed to leave then?!” Stacy demanded, her voice cracking.

“I don’t know!” Jack protested. “Maybe if we look around a bit? Maybe _this_ is what we’re searching for, a-and we’ll find something about Anti here.”

“We’re in a tiny part of the forest, there’s not much to look around at!”

“Well, I don’t know what else to do, but we should do _some_ thing!” Jack cast his flashlight around the forest floor again. “Start looking, see if anything looks weird. You too, Sam.”

The three of them tried their best, but nothing seemed unusual in the tiny patch of forest they were stuck in. After five minutes, they were sure they’d exhausted all options. Sam said they were going to check to see if there was anything in the trees, and zoomed upward into the branches.

“Alright, we’ll wait,” Jack said, watching their green glow disappear. He glanced around. And suddenly, he noticed something in the darkness between the trees. “Uh…”

Stacy looked at him, following his gaze. She immediately froze upon seeing it: a floating ball of red light. And then she shrieked and ran in the opposite direction.

“Wait, Stacy!” Jack followed her for a few steps before realizing she’d just loop around anyway. Spinning around, he saw the light getting closer. And not knowing what else to do, he pointed his flashlight at it, waving it wildly.

“Ah! Fuck!”

Jack stopped. That definitely sounded like a human voice. Still, he backed up a few more steps.

“Wait! Don’ run!” Footsteps approached, and the red light got closer. Until Jack could see it wasn’t just a floating light, but behind it was an outline of someone …holding it? Soon the light was close enough that Jack could see that it was, indeed, a person holding the red light. A man, actually, wearing an aviator jacket and a scarf with a flannel pattern. “Sorry if I scared ye an’ your…girlfriend,” the man said, smiling apologetically.

“Um, she’s not my girlfriend.” Jack looked back over his shoulder. “Stacy! Come back, it’s fine!” After a few seconds, Stacy reappeared, shining her flashlight at the new man and looking only a little less alarmed.

“Oh. Well, sorry for assumin’ t’at way as well, I s’pose I t’ought you two were some sort a’couple on a hikin’ trip,” the man laughed a bit. “M’name is Tiernan.”

“I’m Jack, and this is my friend Stacy,” Jack said, gesturing at the two of them.

Tiernan squinted at the two of them. “Y’sound like a local…where’re you from? Offaly?”

“Yeah…” Jack said, mildly surprised. “What about you? Cork?”

“Kerry.”

“Ah. It’s been a while, but I knew it was somewhere west.”

“I’m sorry, but what are you two talking about?” Stacy interrupted.

“They’re Irish counties,” Jack explained. 

“Well, you’re a’good American sight, aren’t ye?” Tiernan said to her.

“Hey, I’ve lived in Britain for, like, half my life now, and _you_ sound like a leprechaun,” Stacy snapped. “Also are we gonna ignore the fact that you’re _holding_ a _ball_ of _light?!_ ”

“Ah.” Tiernan looked down at his hand. Jack shined his flashlight at it, just to make sure the red light wasn’t coming from a flashlight as well, but no, it was just a ball of light. “I was wond’rin’ when you’d get to t’at. S’pose we can cut the craic out.” He laughed again, this time sounding a bit nervous. “T’is may be hard to swallow, but I’m act’ally a—”

“Magician,” Jack interrupted, eyes wide.

“Oh. Yes.” Tiernan looked at him, puzzled. “How’d y’know t’at? I cannae find a spark in either o’ you…t’ough, now t’at I look a bit closer, y’do have some sort of strange… _thing_ , about you, Mr. Jack…”

“I can think of at least three things that could be making me have a strange _thing,_ ” Jack commented. “Anyway, we know magic exists.” Stacy nodded.

“Oh, good, t’at’ll skip a step in t’is,” Tiernan said. He pulled up the sleeves of his jacket. “See, I live in th’cabin, nearby. I went out to check on t’ings, and noticed your car. T’en I tracked you here, where the pair a’you have gotten stuck in one a’the loop traps. Figured I’d help you get out.”

“There are multiple of these?” Stacy whispered.

“Well, yea.” Tiernan nodded. “T’is whole forest is a little…strange, which is a long story in itself, most likely linked to—oh sweet bejaysus!”

Sam popped back down from exploring the trees above, causing Tiernan to jump backwards in surprise, the orb of red light flaring bigger. They flew over to land on Jack’s shoulder. “Hey Sam,” Jack said.

“What the fuck is t’at?!” Tiernan exclaimed, pointing at Sam.

“This is Sam. It’s a…long story,” Jack said.

“If you’re a magician, haven’t you seen anything like Sam before?” Stacy asked.

“I’ve read ‘bout all manners of anomalies and bein’s, but not’ing like t’at.” Now getting over his surprise, Tiernan stepped closer, looking Sam over. After a moment of examining them, he looked back at Jack and Stacy. “I’d like t’talk to ye more about t’is, but let’s get outta the woods first.” The two nodded in agreement, and Tiernan turned around. “Jus’ stick close to me an’ we’ll be all good.”

The group was silent as they all trekked through the forest. Tiernan muttered words under his breath occasionally, causing his eyes to flare from their normal dark color to bright red. It was maybe fifteen minutes later when they emerged from the forest back on the road, not too far from where Stacy had parked the rental car.

“Oh thank god,” Stacy muttered. “I’m not gonna lie, I…I _hated_ that.”

Tiernan chuckled. “The forest can be trouble to get ‘round in, if y’don’ know the way.”

“Well, I thought we would know the way,” Jack admitted. “See, I grew up in the area, and I lived here for a while on my own. As an adult. It was probably just four or five years ago.”

“Really?” Tiernan asked, intrigued. “T’at could indeed explain the _thing_ about you.”

“Yeah, well…” Jack shrugged. “That could also be because of Sam, or Anti, or—”

“Wait, what was t’at?” Tiernan interrupted.

“Uh…” Jack blinked, and looked over at Stacy, who shrugged. “Anti? He’s a friend of mine. He’s, uh…magical.”

Tiernan stepped back, looking him over again. “Are ye codding me? Did y’know what I’m doin’ out here all t’is time?”

“…no?” Jack again looked over at Stacy.

This time, she jumped in. “We actually came out here to look for Anti. He’s, uh…he hasn’t been seen in a while, and Jack thought he might be here. Something about how we might be able to get into his home from here.”

Tiernan went very quiet, color draining from his face. “I t’ink we should go up to the cabin,” he said, turning around. “I’ll explain t’you on the way.”

“Um, the car—” Stacy started.

“If ye decide t’leave, I’ll walk ye back here. Or y’can stay the night, an pick it up in the morning. For now…jus’ follow me.” He flicked his fingers, and the ball of red light split into three parts: one zooming to hover by his head, one flying out in front of the group, and one falling behind. As he started walking, Jack and Stacy hurried to follow.

“So…it sounds like you know something about Anti,” Jack said, trying to sound nonchalant but failing to keep the hope out of his voice.

“Hmm…” Tiernan hummed, adjusting the position of his scarf as he tried to find the right thing to say. “Well, t’is requires some backstory. See, I fairly recently found out t’at one a’my ancestors lived in t’is area. It’s been changed, o’course, so it was hard to match it up, but t’is is defin’tly the place. His name was Caedmon, he was part a’the draíocht in the area.” Glancing back at the other two’s confused looks, he clarified, “Druidry. T’ey were ancient magicians, sort a’blended it together wit’ witchery. Caedmon lived ‘bout two thousand years ago.”

“Jesus,” Stacy muttered. “How’d you find that out if it was so long ago?”

“Ah, some ABIM wizards managed to find an’ reconstruct some writings from the time,” Tiernan said, shrugging. “From the way his magic was described, ‘t was very similar t’mine. T’en y’just needed to do some magic DNA testing I didn’ understan’, and t’ere y’have it. T’ey gave me some of the writings traced to Caedmon. I got int’rested, went looking around, an’ t’is cabin was up for sale and in the right area!”

“So I guess my parents _did_ sell it, then,” Jack muttered.

Tiernan whipped over to look at him. “S’pose t’ey did. Good thing, too, the woods are full of remnants of strange magic, not of t’is world. Like the loop trap y’got caught in.”

“Did we say thanks for that?” Stacy wondered. “Well, thanks for getting us out.”

“Ah, it wasn’ a problem.” Tiernan shrugged, but he smiled gratefully.

By now they were really close to the cabin, walking right up to the area for cars to park. Jack looked around. “Even in the dark, I can tell things are different.”

“Hope t’at’s not a problem,” Tiernan said. “Anyway, what was I sayin’? Oh yes, t’ey gave me some of Caedmon’s writings. I’ve been lookin’ t’rough them while living here. T’ere’s an entry talkin’ ‘bout some sort a’lookalike creature haunting the area t’at Caedmon went out to deal wit’. An’ all the entries after t’at often mention someone called ‘Eantaí.’”

Jack felt his heart stop. “…ah.”

“Now you see where I’m gettin’ from,” Tiernan said. “I can’ tell from the writings if Caedmon loved t’is guy or hated him, but it sure sounds like the two of them were somehow stuck wit’ each other.” Now really close to the cabin door, Tiernan stopped walking, turning around to fully look at Jack. “I get the feelin’ you know what I mean.”

Jack nodded slowly, looking down at the ground. “Anti and I…we’re connected. He, uh…he needs me, or he’s just a bunch of electricity without a body.”

Tiernan laughed. “Sorry, sorry, didn’ mean to make light a’t’at,” he said, turning around again and closing the distance to the door. “It’s jus’ t’at…one of the t’ings I remember from Caedmon’s writin’ is how he described the lookalike as being ‘lightnin’ wit’ no form wit’out me.’”

Stacy whistled. “And this was two thousand years ago…Anti’s older than I thought.”

“He never really gave me a specific amount for how old he is,” Jack commented. “But I always thought that was because he wasn’t sure how time worked.”

“Hmm.” Tiernan fiddled with the door for a while, then swung it open. “Anyway, if y’came here lookin’ for your Anti friend, maybe…I could help?” He sounded a bit hopeful on that last part.

Stacy looked at Jack, and gestured for him to answer, clearly not having much of an opinion. Jack fell silent, considering this. “I guess…we don’t know how to get to Anti from here,” he admitted. “Maybe if we knew more about him, we could figure out how to do that. Y’know, get to his home.”

Tiernan brightened up. “So…would you like t’come inside?”

Jack nodded. “Yeah, I guess we could.”

“Yes!” Tiernan punched the air, then coughed, and smoothed down his jacket to compose himself. “I mean…let’s get in, t’en.” He reached inside and flipped on the lights. “I can show ye my translated writings, we can compare the Eantaí in t’em to your friend, see if y’can learn anything from…” he continued talking as he disappeared into the cabin.

Jack looked at Stacy. She shrugged. He looked at Sam. They swished their nerve-tail, and said they shouldn’t dilly dally. He looked back at the doorway, took a deep breath, and headed inside, Stacy following him.

* * *

Jackie woke up slowly, the warm weight of sleep trying to drag him back down again. He might’ve drifted off, but then he noticed something was…different. He’d fallen asleep on a sofa in the lobby of the old hotel. But now, it felt like he was…on a bed. With a pillow and everything. It was also a bit colder, and he then realized that he wasn’t wearing his hoodie or his shirt. And there was something on his face.

He opened his eyes. The room he was in was pretty small, with the only furniture being a dresser, a nightstand with a lamp, an armchair, and the bed. It looked rather run-down, and the peeling wallpaper matched the pattern he’d seen in the halls of the hotel. The lamp on the nightstand was on, as was a flickering overhead lamp, and apparently the hall light outside, since the door was open and letting in a stream of pale yellow light. And there was a man sitting in the room’s armchair.

“Wh—” Jackie tried to sit up, but cried out as he felt the now-familiar flare of pain. Falling back to the bed, it was then that he finally noticed how his torso and a good portion of his right arm were wrapped in bandages.

“Whoa, hey, be careful!” The man stood up from the armchair, rushing over to the side of the bed. “I did the best I could, but it’s still gonna hurt.”

“I figured that out the hard way,” Jackie groaned. He gave the other man a once-over. He looked familiar. “Aren’t you that magician guy?”

“You mean the magician guy who you stole the car of? Yeah.” The man smiled. “Frederick. Nice to see you again. Heard you were looking for magic.”

“Yeah.” Jackie stared at him. He hadn’t recognized him at first, since his hair had gotten longer and he was now wearing a black peacoat instead of the suit he’d last seen him in. But now he could see the swirling neck tattoo, which was the same, and that led him to recognize his face. “How did you—”

“I hear talking!” Suddenly a small woman with mousy hair poked her head through the doorway into the room. “Hello! You’re Jackie, right? I’m Heather, Heather Bell. You’re looking a bit less like you’re dead, and that’s great! You’re super lucky I know Fengge, he’s really great. And apparently you two know each other, what a small world!”

“Uh…” Jackie blinked at her. “Who’s Fengge?”

Frederick laughed. “That’s me.”

“I thought your name was Frederick.”

“It’s that, too. Heather’s basically the only one here who calls me Fengge. Well, Yvonne did—does sometimes, too.” Frederick’s expression dropped. He cleared his throat. “Anyway, how are you feeling?”

“Uh…good, I guess?” Jackie paused. “Well, no, actually I feel like shit.” He glanced back over at Heather, now standing in the doorway. “Are you a magician?”

“No, I’m a journalist,” Heather said, giggling. “But Yvonne’s a magician! And our dad was, too, so I know a lot of these guys, even if I can’t do magic.”

“Wait, you’re—?!” Jackie managed to push himself against the bed’s headrest until he was half-sitting. “You’re the magician lady’s sister?!”

“Yeah!” Heather nodded, smiling wide. “Like I said, what a small world! Man, if I knew that she knew you, we could’ve met earlier, and I could’ve gotten a _great_ story out of it. I’ve been trying to land an interview with your Chase friend, because that’s sort of my specialty, and also I kind of wanted to ask him more about what really happened after that car crash since some of the details seemed a bit fuzzy, but Fengge says it was that black magic magician he and Eve were chasing down—”

“Heather, you’re doing the thing again,” Frederick said gently.

“Oh. Oh! I’m sorry, I just get carried away. I’ll be quiet.” Heather locked her lips and threw away the key, smiling with a closed-mouth.

Frederick sighed, a small smile on his lips. Then he turned back to Jackie. “Anyway, the whole, ‘feeling like shit’ thing should probably be expected. I don’t know any spells to take away pain, but I’m sure they exist somewhere.”

“Uh, that’s alright.” Jackie looked between him and Heather. “So…when I talked to Heather and her friends earlier today, she called you?”

“Yep, almost immediately,” Frederick said. He turned around and began pushing the armchair over to the side of the bed, continuing to talk as he did so. “It took me a while to drive here, but once I was here, I met up with H. My first tracking spell to find you actually failed—that’s always been more of Yvonne’s department—but then I realized that you might still have some of that black magic in you, so I searched for that instead. And it led us here.” With the armchair now next to the bed, he sat down. “You’re really lucky my secondary specialty is healing. Though it did take a lot to purge all that black magic from your burns, not to mention try to fix all the damage it did…” Frederick sighed, clasping his hands and resting his elbows on his legs. “But it could’ve been worse.”

“Yeah, I gues—” Jackie cut himself off. His eyes had landed on Frederick’s hands. “Um…feel free to call me out if this is rude, but…you didn’t have that before, did you?”

“Oh, this?” Frederick waved his right hand. Except…it wasn’t exactly a hand. It was made of wood. Jackie hadn’t been able to pick it out from a distance, since the color of the wood was really close to Frederick’s skin tone, but it was very clear now. It looked like one of those model hands artists could buy to make poses, except more sophisticated, and the back was carved with a design similar to that of Frederick’s tattoo. “Yeah…so, uh, funny story that. Remember when we tracked down that black magic magician?”

“Marvin, yeah,” Jackie said.

“Okay, so you know his name. Apparently Yvonne did too, I think she knew him from when she was in the undercover department…? Anyway, remember when you three left after finding that friend of yours he’d taken and left me?”

Jackie squirmed. “…yeah?”

Frederick stared at him quietly for a moment, then continued, “Well, this Marvin guy must’ve decided to take everything out on me, the guy who was left. We fought. And I’ve fought magicians before, I’m actually quite good at it, but I…well, I lost this fight.” He winced, gently. “I…don’t remember a lot of what happened, since I got real confused and dazed. I do know Yvonne showed up and got me out of there, but she must’ve…left, for some reason. Because I remember lying on the ground for a long time and passing out. Then I woke up back in an infirmary.” He flexed the fingers of his wooden hand, watching it. “Anyway, Marvin’s magic is quite…corrosive, which, ah, you must know. My hand was beyond saving, but this replacement does the same job.”

“…oh.” Jackie went quiet for a moment. “Um…well…sorry that happened. But it could’ve been worse.” 

“Oh, it almost was.” Frederick nodded. “Talking to the healer on duty, if they’d been a minute later, I wouldn’t have made it. So thank all the possible gods for whoever picked me up and got me to the infirmary on time.”

“…yeah.” Jackie couldn’t think of what else to say. He remembered the mad dash to get out of the cabin in the forest, how they ran away from Marvin without even thinking much about leaving Frederick and Yvonne behind. They’d stolen their car, for fuck’s sake. And by doing so, they almost killed them. Part of Jackie said that he’d wanted to go back, that he’d felt bad for leaving. A greater part of him said that he’d still left anyway. “Um…thanks,” Jackie said quietly. “For, um…healing me. You didn’t have to.”

“Sure I did. I wasn’t going to let you keep going like that,” Frederick said casually. That simple statement made guilt curl up inside Jackie’s chest. “Anyway, if you’re going to get better, you should get some rest. Are you, uh…” Frederick cleared his throat. “Living here?”

“Well, for now. Yeah.” Jackie shifted awkwardly.

“Can I talk now?” Heather said. Without waiting for an answer, she continued, “He’s wanted, y’know. The police in Mirygale are after him, so it makes sense that he’s hiding out here. Oh, don’t worry, by the way, I promised Fengge that I wouldn’t tell anyone that you’re here. He doesn’t want to get involved in non-magic justice stuff.” She paused. “Oh, I’m doing the thing. I’m so sorry. Y’see, Jackie, I have a tendency to go on and on and sometimes talk over people, and that hurts their feelings sometimes or makes them feel bad, so I’m trying not to, just the other day I think I might’ve really upset this guy—I’m going to stop now.”

Frederick chuckled a bit, but it didn’t last long. “Well…I suppose there’s…electricity here. So there’s that. And it still has…furniture.” He fell silent. “Look, Jackie, it’s your choice, but I’d really appreciate it if you…came to stay with me? So I can see if you’re healing properly.”

Jackie felt a lump in his throat. He nodded. “Yeah, that would…that would be great.”

“Great.” Frederick smiled a bit. “We can leave in the morning, it’s late and dark and you probably shouldn’t be moved right now.”

“That didn’t stop you from moving him up the stairs,” Heather pointed out.

“That was different, H,” Frederick said. He looked back at Jackie. “I’ll leave you alone, but, uh, I was wondering…what happened to Marvin?” There was a slight hint of dread in his voice. “Because, I think it’s pretty clear that you ran into him after I saw you, but we haven’t found any sign of him in the past three months or so.”

Jackie frowned. “Honestly? I have no idea. He got…fucking teleported away or something. I don’t know if he’ll be a problem? He might? Ugh.” He sighed. “How about I tell you everything in the morning? The last time I saw Marvin is…a long story.”

Frederick nodded. “Alright.” He stood up. “Uh…do you want me to turn the lights off? Should I move any of your stuff from downstairs to here?”

“You can turn the overhead off, but leave this one on, I’ll get it later.” Jackie pointed at the bedside lamp. “And, uh. Sure. You can move the stuff up here, but it doesn’t have to be in the room. I just don’t want it stolen or shit.”

“Got it.” Frederick walked over to the doorway, flipping the nearby light switch and turning the overhead light off. “We’ll see you in the morning, then.”

“Yeah.” Jackie nodded. “Um…good night.”

“Good night,” Frederick said.

“Night!” Heather said, waving. The two of them left, closing the door behind them.

Jackie stared up at the ceiling, looking at the popcorn plaster without really seeing it. He was still processing everything. This random woman he walked up to on the street had thought ‘this guy says he needs help, I’ll call my magician friend’ and then just…done it. Said magician friend had been the one who Jackie and his friends had basically left to die. Yet he’d apparently dropped everything to come and help him. That was…incredible. Jackie hadn’t thought that people did things like that, outside of movies. That kind of…compassion. It just didn’t exist. Or at least, he’d never seen it.

Frowning, Jackie rolled over onto his left side. The burns on his face hurt a bit, but not as much as they had been. It was actually tolerable. He sighed, and closed his eyes. He should get his rest. There was going to be a lot to deal with in the morning.


	37. Visitation Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While Jack, Sam, and Stacy continue searching for a way to reach Anti, and while Jackie is dealing with his own problems, another familiar face goes about his own plan.

Jack found himself waking up early in the morning, an unusual occurrence for him. Of course, Sam running into the side of his head over and over might’ve had something to do with that.

“Mornin’, Sam,” he mumbled, face half-buried in the pillow. “Wh’is it?”

Sam reminded him that they were planning to do more research today. About Anti, remember? It would be better to start soon.

“But Sam, ‘m tired…” Jack rolled over, only for Sam to start bouncing on top of him repeatedly. He sighed. “Alright, fine. But breakfast first.”

He stood, stretched, and headed towards the kitchen. In the cabin, the kitchen was open and attached to the dining room, which meant he could see how Stacy and the magician, Tiernan, were awake and sitting at the dining room table. The surface of said table was practically invisible beneath the piles of various papers and books that the two of them had managed to spread out since they’ve been awake. “Hey, Jack,” Stacy said. “I hope you don’t mind that we got started without you.”

“Nah, it’s fine, you guys go ahead.” He made his way around them and towards the kitchen, starting up the coffee pot. He waited while it brewed, bouncing on the cold tiles.

Sam settled on the table, specifically on top of a stack of books. Tiernan jumped, then smiled. “Ah, how’s it, little lad?” Sam flicked their nerve-tail in response, and Tiernan nodded, edging a bit closer to them. He seemed fascinated with the way Sam glowed and moved and…well, existed.

“So what’s all this?” Jack gestured at the table. “You’ve moved all the stuff from the living room to here?”

“It was my idea,” Stacy piped up. “More space to look at things.” She shuffled a few of the papers. “Right now, Tiernan is helping me review everything. I think it sort of…all went over my head last night. Thank you for letting us stay, by the way.” She directed this last statement to Tiernan. “We should’ve gone to a hotel before we drove here, but we weren’t expecting it to take too long. Or, well, _I_ wasn’t.”

“Hey, I wasn’t either!” Jack protested. “I just…thought it would take all day, but still long enough to check in somewhere.”

“Well, ‘s no problem, really,” Tiernan said. “I’m happy t’—careful wit’ t’at!” He lunged across the table, stopping Stacy from taking something that _looked_ like paper. “T’at’s one o’the originals, even magic can’ keep it from bein’ real delicate.”

“Sorry,” Stacy muttered, slowly withdrawing her hand. “Um…what’s it made of?”

“Oh, animal hides,” Tiernan said casually. “See, t’ey hadn’ figured out paper yet in t’is part o’the worl’, so t’ey wrote on skins. ‘T was a costly endeavor, so only the important members of society coul’ keep notes.”

“Well then.” Stacy scanned the table. “This Caedmon guy must’ve been pretty important, if he wrote down so much.”

Jack, now with coffee in hand, walked back over to the table, also looking over the contents spread out on it. “So there really _are_ four copies of everything,” he muttered. “I thought I was imagining that from last night. Or mistaken or something.”

“No, y’need four of ev’ryt’ing,” Tiernan said, eyes lighting up. “Y’have the original, t’at’s the bit on the animal hide, t’en y’have the translation I did, turnin’ the characters into our alphabet, t’en I did a direct translation, but the grammar an’all’s not really understandable t’us, so I did one last one, makin’ it somet’ing us modern people could read. They’re color-coded, see the tabs?”

Stacy picked up a piece of paper with a blue tab attached. “And this is the final result, the modern reading.”

“Uh-huh!” Tiernan nodded. “If y’look on the tabs, y’can match them up wit’ the other versions. ‘Cause all th’versions are labelled wit’ the same number.”

“You’re…really extensive about this,” Stacy said.

“Yea, I know, I’m a bit o’a history nerd,” Tiernan said, smiling sheepishly. “And I s’pose wit’ t’is bein’ my _own_ history, I went a little crazy.”

“Oh come on, dude, buying a cabin in the middle of nowhere because it’s close to the location one of your ancestors lived in isn’t crazy,” Jack chuckled.

Tiernan laughed a bit. “Be careful wit’ t’at coffee, Jack, t’ese are precious documents, and I don’ know a spell to clean up stains or liquid damage.”

“Ah. Right.” Jack retreated to the nearby counter, setting his coffee down and proceeding to make toast to go with it. “So, have you guys found anything interesting? Something that could help us with the whole…Anti situation?”

“Well, there’s this thing.” Stacy gathered up a few of the nearby papers, stacking them. “There’s a pretty long entry that describes how apparently people in the nearby…clan?” Stacy glanced at Tiernan to make sure that was the right word. Tiernan nodded, shrugging nonchalantly. “People nearby were having, um…‘their minds stolen and their bodies’…I don’t know this word but Tiernan said it translated to ‘controlled’ but with a more, um, specific meaning. Anyway, this was being caused by something that would take their form. And apparently this Caedmon had to deal with it.”

“Oh, indeed.” Tiernan nodded. “Magic was well-known back t’en, people had no fear of it. The druids woul’ be sent out to deal wit’ any problems t’at could be magical in origin.”

“Interesting,” Jack muttered, taking a sip of his coffee.

“So, Caedmon went out to deal with it,” Stacy continued, flipping to another paper. “And when he came back, he said the thing attached itself to him. There’s a conversation that’s recorded—”

“Though ‘t is doubtful the talk is word-for-word accurate,” Tiernan added.

“—in which Caedmon talked to this monster thing, calling it Eantaí, though there’s apparently a longer word here that I can’t pronounce.” Stacy squinted at something written down on the page, then shrugged and moved on. “The gist of the conversation is that Anti said he needed to be linked to a human to be able to interact with the world, and that he’d been basically body-snatching people trying to find someone who would ‘fit,’ and apparently that person ended up being Caedmon himself.”

“Okay, yeah, that makes sense,” Jack said, nodding. “Anti does need a host so he can, like, touch things and move them and have a body. Guess he was trying to find one. Not having a lot of success, it sounds like.”

“No, not at all.” Stacy flipped to a third sheet of paper. “And apparently Caedmon had to be, like, ‘the thing you’re doing is hurting people,’ and Anti was like ‘what does that mean?’ and they had a whole conversation about what physical and emotional pain is.”

“Jack, I have t’ask ye,” Tiernan said. “I assumed, from readin’ the writings, that Eantaí couldn’ feel pain. Is t’at correct?”

“Oh yeah, totally,” Jack nodded. “I actually remember one time, I was like fifteen, being a dumbass teenager in the woods right out there.” Jack pointed out the nearest window. “And Anti was with me, ‘cause of course he was, I didn’t know a lot of other people. We were climbing a tree, and the branch Anti grabbed snapped, and he fell. Landed right on his arm and broke it, and I was freaking out, but he just looked at it like, ‘oh that sucks.’ And then he glitched and it was fixed. God, wish all injuries could be fixed just like that.”

Tiernan leaned back in the chair, eyes wide. He whistled. “Now t’at sounds real handy. T’ere are creatures out t’ere t’at don’ feel pain, but I don’ know of many t’at can do somet’ing like t’at.” He leaned over the table to look at the paper Stacy was holding, scanning its lines. “And I s’pose if y’don’ feel pain, ye wouldn’ know t’at you’re inflictin’ it on others.”

“Well…Anti is definitely aware of that,” Jack considered. “But I guess if this is a super-young Anti in the writing, then he might go about causing some chaos without knowing it.”

“Oh yes, so much chaos,” Stacy muttered, quickly scanning over the rest of the papers she was holding before putting them down. “Most of these entries that mention Anti have at least one conversation with Caedmon basically teaching him morality.” She shivered. “God, can you imagine what Anti would be like now if he never learned that, or ignored it?”

Sam shuddered, and made a nodding motion.

“Y’know, all this is very fascinating,” Jack said. “But it’s…well, it’s not very helpful. Is there anything that could tell us how to get to Anti’s home?”

“Hmm…” Tiernan stood up, skimming through the papers scattered on the table. “Not t’at I can see…” He picked up a sheaf of stapled papers, flipping through them.

“I’ve never more wanted to have a find feature in real life, instead of just on the computer,” Stacy sighed. “Just imagine if we could…control + F and type in ‘home,’ that would be nice.”

Jack drained the rest of his coffee and shoved the last bit of toast into his mouth, then went over to join the other two in the search.

It was thirty minutes before they found anything vaguely helpful. Tiernan was the first one to point it out. “Oh, t’is could be somet’ing,” he said. “Another conversation.”

“What’s it say?” Stacy asked, rubbing her eyes.

Tiernan scanned the page. “Caedmon was questionin’ Eantaí about where he came from. The answer…” His brows furrowed. “Well, it’s a bit unusual.” He held the paper out to the other two.

Jack, previously slumping in the dining room chair, sat up straight and grabbed it. He scanned the written words, then read it out loud, “‘He told me it was somewhere next to our world. Another place that was attached to the world, but not part of it. He said that he could control everything inside his home. I asked him why he decided to leave. And he replied that there was nothing as interesting in his world as was in ours. I asked him if this was his first time in our world. And he replied that it was, but that he couldn’t tell me how long he’d lived in his home before he left, because time is of our world, not his.’ Huh…” He set the paper back down.

“Sounds like a pocket dimension,” Tiernan said.

“Those exist?” Stacy asked, surprised.

“O’course. T'ere are all sorts o’pockets out t'ere.” Tiernan grinned. “Though some o’them, I hear, are quite a bit nasty. Y’know t'ere’s another realm where dark magicians would sen th’souls of t’eir enemies, to be tormented by nightmares forever. And t’ere’s the mirror dimen—”

“Okay, point taken,” Stacy said, rubbing her temples like a headache was beginning to form.

“Alright, but I _knew_ Anti was from another dimension,” Jack said. “He told me that a long time ago. We need to know _how_ to get there. Tiernan, you translated _all_ of this, do you remember anything like that?”

Tiernan frowned. “I don’ _retain_ anyt’ing while I translate. Don’ have the brain space for t’at. Sometimes I note down somet’ing odd, and I usually understan’ the gist of the original writin’, but not’ing specific like t’at.” He paused. “Sorry.”

Jack sighed. “No, it’s fine, that makes sense.”

They read for another hour before Stacy threw her hands up in the air and said, “This is ridiculous. Maybe Caedmon didn’t even know how to get to Anti’s dimension.”

Jack set his head down on the table with a thud. “Y’know, I’m starting to think that’s the case,” he muttered. Sam flew over and bumped against his cheek, encouraging him not to give up, saying there must be something. “Thanks, Sam. I mean, you’re not wrong. There’s a whole not here, just nothing that’s helpful to where we are right now.” Jack paused. “Anti’s probably alright. But, like…the last time I saw him, he was facing this…black hole of dark magic who absolutely kicked his ass last time with that Void magic. So I’d like to…to check on him, you know? But…I don’t know, he’s probably alright.”

“Your Anti was facin’ a Void?” Tiernan’s eyes widened. “And he got away alive the first time? Well, he’s probably well-equipped for t’occasion. Most don’ walk away from t’at, if a Void means t’kill them.”

“Yeah, well.” Jack lifted his head up. “He got advice from someone else who fought one, and he had this whole plan, so…I mean, he wasn’t _unprepared_.” But still…

“Is there a possibility that maybe…” Stacy bit her lip, trying to find the right words. “Maybe Caedmon _did_ know, but he didn’t write it down?”

The other two stared at her. Even Sam stared at her.

“Well, I mean, I’m just saying,” she said, a defensive note coming into her voice. “I kept a diary when I was a teenager, and I didn’t write down _everything_ in it. A lot of stuff that was boring or that I forgot got left out. So maybe Caedmon and Anti talked about how to get to Anti’s pocket dimension thing, but Caedmon got distracted by something else big going down that day or something. And I mean, if stuff to write on is limited, you’d want to stick to the most important stuff.”

“Stacy…” Jack said. “You’re a genius.”

“Oh. Uh, thanks,” Stacy said, mildly surprised.

“And t’ere’s always a chance t’at t’ere was more writings t’at were never found or were lost,” Tiernan added, nodding. “After all, t’ese were already in bad condition when they were found.”

“Okay, but…” Jack felt a sudden well of dread open up in his chest. “If he didn’t write it down…then we don’t have a lead on how to get there.”

Tiernan hummed. “T’ere are lots o’different ways t’open a pocket dimension, you’d have t’know which one to use. I s’pose I could try to ask Caedmon about it.”

Now it was Tiernan’s turn to be stared at. In fact, Jack and Stacy were gaping at him as if he’d just revealed he was an alien. “Um…how are you gonna talk to someone who’s been dead for two thousand years?” Stacy asked.

“Well, two thousand years, t’at _is_ an incredible length o’time, I’d have t’really reach for it,” Tiernan said, not noticing the others’ expressions. “Might take all my energy, I’d probably pass out after. Which is why I wasn’ too keen t’do it, but if ye two are here, ye can make sure not’ing bad happens.”

“Uhhh…” Jack looked at Stacy as if to confirm they were hearing they same thing. She nodded, confused and disbelieving. “Look, Mr. Tiernan sir,” Jack continued, “we have no idea what the fuck you’re talking about.”

“Oh.” Tiernan laughed. “Didn’ I tell you? Coulda sworn I did…I’m a necromancer. I can summon dead spirits.”

The silence that followed was so complete that the people inside the cabin could easily hear the wind blowing outside. “Well, _that_ would’ve been nice to know!” Jack shouted.

“Wait, that’s possible?” Stacy asked. “Wouldn’t that be, like, dark magic?”

“It is _not_ a black magic!” Tiernan said defensively. “Necromancy, like divination and soul magic, is somet’ing you’re born wit’. T’ere are _branches_ of it t’at are black magic, but t’ere is much t’at isn’! Any magic could be turned dark, really. Jus’ depends how ye use it.”

“Still would’ve been good to know we could just _ask_ this Caedmon guy instead of spending all morning looking at paper!” Jack pointed out.

“Okay, first o’all, we’d be talkin’ to his _spirit,_ not him,” Tiernan said. “Very different. I don’ go ‘round bringin’ people back, _t’at_ is definitely black magic. And second, it’ll take a lot of magic, possibly ev’ryt’ing I have! Spirits don’ just hang around for two thousand years! Sure, it’ll help t’at I’m related t’him, and t’at we’re in an area he would’ve been in in life, but still! Very difficult.” He paused. “Still, I…it would be very int’resting…if I we did do t’is,” he said slowly.

Jack looked at Sam and Stacy. Stacy sighed, and gestured for him to take the floor. Sam bobbed in the air, supportive. “Well, if you want to do it, and it kind of sounds like you do,” Jack said. “We could…try.”

Tiernan’s eyes lit up. “Amazin’! Fantastic!” He grinned, clapping his hands. “Never gone t’at far back before, we’ll need t’prepare.”

“Just tell us what to do,” Jack said, determined. If this was what they had to do, he was willing to give it a go.

* * *

It was a Saturday morning, which meant visiting hours were open. Though the doctor still hadn’t been expecting anyone to show up. At least, not for this particular patient.

“Do you mind if I see some…identification?” She asked.

The man standing before her raised an eyebrow. Flipping to a new page in the notebook he was carrying, he wrote down, _Why?_

“Just in case,” the doctor responded vaguely. “Security reasons, all that.”

The man sighed, and reached into his vest pocket, taking out a wallet, and then taking a driver’s license out of the wallet. He put it down on the counter and slid it over to the doctor. She, in turn, picked it up and looked it over. As far as she could tell, it was legit. Or it was an extremely good fake. Still, she got the feeling she wasn’t supposed to do this. The man looked a lot like that fugitive she’d seen on the TV, except with shorter hair and a black mustache that could’ve also been an extremely good fake. “May I ask the purpose of your visit, Mr. Jackson?”

Jameson nodded, and wrote down his next response. _He was a friend of mine, before everything went pear-shaped for him. I’d like to see how he’s doing._

“Mm-hmm.” The doctor nodded. “And what about your…friend?” She glanced over Jameson’s shoulder at the woman he’d come in with. Her hair was long, parts of it dyed faded purple and blue, though it looked like she was growing it out, as part of her hair was a natural mousy brown. She was sitting in one of the chairs in reception, clearly spacing out.

 _She was kind enough to drive me here,_ Jameson said. _But she’ll be waiting in here, since she doesn’t know him._

“Mm-hmm,” the doctor hummed again. Something felt a bit off about this, but she wasn’t paid enough to pay more attention. “Right. Well, the visitor’s room is this way. You understand that someone will be required to supervise.”

Jameson blinked innocently. _Oh, I hadn’t realized. Would that be you?_

“I, um…sure.” The doctor shrugged. She {didn’t really have anything better to do, might as well.} “Just through that door, I’ll be with you soon.”

 _Thank you very much._ Jameson smiled widely, then disappeared through the door indicated.

The visitor’s room was pretty sparse, basically just a table with a couple chairs around it, and a few more chairs around the edge of the room. There was a window, showing another room where someone could watch what was happening. Jameson frowned at it, but soon the other doorway to the room opened, and he put on a friendly smile.

“Who is—?” A gasp. “Ah, my friend!” Jameson was quickly enveloped in a tight hug.

“Whoa, um, okay.” The doctor from before appeared in the corner of his vision. “Henrik, we have a one-meter rule, you need to back up just—just a little bit here. Don’t make me call an orderly.”

“Ach, fine, fine.” Schneep let go and took a few steps back, letting Jameson get a good, clear look at him. “It is so good to see you, Jamie! It has been too long, things get very…well, they get a lot of things in here, but I would say boring in this case. How long since I last saw you?”

 _Three months,_ Jameson signed. _I might’ve checked on you earlier, but I became busy. How have you been?_

“I—well—hmm.” Schneep thought about this, absentmindedly covering his mouth. “That is a complicated question. Perhaps we should sit down?”

Jameson nodded, and the two of them took seats at the table. The doctor sighed, and went over to sit in a chair in the corner. _You’re looking a bit pale, Henrik,_ Jameson signed. _Are you alright?_

“Oh, I suppose. Perhaps it is the white clothes making me look washed-out, because I do not think I look any different. Well, I do not have my glasses, but otherwise…” Schneep shrugged. “Why are you not talking in my head, Jamie? Did something happen?”

From the corner, the doctor sighed gently, muttering something under her breath that sounded like “That’s a new one.”

 _Well, I thought it would be odd to have a conversation where I don’t appear to talk,_ Jameson explained calmly. _The doctor doesn’t speak BSL, but she knows of it, so she understands we are speaking._

“Ah, I did not consider that.” Schneep nodded.

 _Speaking of which, is she_ your _doctor, or just a general one hanging about?_ Jameson asked.

“She is supposed to be mine, but…” Schneep glanced in the doctor’s direction, then lowered his voice to a whisper. “…she is not very good at it. Even I can tell, and I do not know that much about this sort of practice. But I know you should be passionate, or at the very least, _engaged_ in what you are doing. It is a shame. She seems knowledgeable, perhaps she could’ve been better in another universe.”

 _I see,_ Jameson said. _So, do you want to tell me how you are feeling?_

Schneep hissed, sucking in air between clenched teeth. “That is…a more difficult question than it would have been four months ago.”

_Oh?_

“They keep telling me, ‘oh, this is not true, and that is not true, and you are actually like this,’ and I think that is nonsense! To think that I do not know who I am, utter, utter nonsense! I am the world’s best doctor, that is who I am!” He grinned, but it quickly faded. “Yet…I have not seen my nurse in a while. And she always manages to find me, no matter where I am. I…wonder. Who will listen to me if she is not here?”

 _Well, there will always be people willing to listen,_ Jameson said.

“Oh! Yes, like you and the others,” Schneep said, suddenly perking up again. “Speaking of which, where are they? I asked around, and some of them working here said that Chase is in prison? But then, where are Jackie and Marvin?”

 _I don’t know,_ Jameson admitted. _In fact, I partially hoped you would._

“Me?” Schneep asked, surprised.

 _Yes._ Jameson leaned forward. _What happened the last time you saw the two of them?_

“You mean…after that mess with the…the man with the purple eyes?” Schneep stiffened, eyes darting about the room as if expecting someone or something to suddenly appear.

_Precisely. I wasn’t there, so I’m unaware of what happened._

“Well…Marvin never appeared. I am starting to think that—” He hesitated. “That the man with the purple eyes may have—h-have killed him.”

Jameson sighed wearily. _Perhaps you are not wrong._

“The purple eyes definitely wanted to kill Jackie. He tried very hard to, and he might have, if…well, I am not quite aware of what happened,” Schneep admitted. “I was a bit…overwhelmed, I-I suppose, with the purple eyes there and that fire and those dead things a-and—” He closed his eyes, taking a moment to breathe. Jameson waited, and soon Schneep continued. “Well, Chase was there, in the end. And I think someone took the purple eyes away.”

 _Took him away?_ Jameson asked, intrigued.

“Yes. I think Jack was there, but of all the things they tell me are false, that seems the one most likely to be, so perhaps not.” Schneep chuckled weakly. “Perhaps someone I mistook for him was there, and they took the purple eyes away.”

 _…Interesting,_ Jameson mused. _What happened after that?_

“Well, Jackie left. But he was hurt.” Schneep looked down at the table, then up again, eyes burning. “I would have fixed him, I would have!”

 _I know, Henrik,_ Jameson signed gently.

“But I-I was—he left before I—Chase said someone who wanted to help was coming, and said we should stay for them. And—and so we did. I…” He cleared his throat. “I do not remember much after that. I think I must have had shock catch up with me, because I do not remember much after seeing people arrive. I do remember that I fell asleep in a room here.”

 _And was that such a bad thing?_ Jameson asked. _I do understand that they wish to help._

Schneep scoffed. “Oh yes, perhaps they do, but they do not know the right way to go about it. They do not listen to me! And half of them talk to me like I am a child, always in this patronizing tone, saying things like ‘I am sure you think that is what happened’—it is what happened! These motherfuckers…”

 _Well, perhaps give them a chance, they have good intentions._ Jameson paused, glancing back over at the doctor, who was on her phone and clearly not paying attention. _Though if it gets too bad, as in unbearable, I could always come in to help._

Schneep blinked, then tilted his head. “How so?”

 _Well, I could take you out of here easily enough,_ Jameson said. _If you wanted to. And if, like I said, it was simply unbearable._

“I would like to leave right now, if I am being honest.”

 _Yes, but you can clearly bear it easily enough._ Jameson reached over and placed his hand on top of Schneep’s. {What I mean to say,} he projected, {is if you reach a moment where you simply cannot handle it anymore, you can always call for me.}

“How so?” Schneep asked, confused.

{Can you feel the direction my words are coming from? Imagine that I am standing on the outside of an open door, and you are inside the room hearing me shout to you.} Jameson paused, watching Schneep’s expression shift from puzzled to understanding. {This is a well-traveled pathway; I have been here many times and it is comparable to a very sturdy bridge. If you try hard enough, you can try to walk out and follow the path back to where I come from.}

“Could we always do this?” Schneep muttered. “All of us?”

{Oh, no, it’s easy enough for me to come to you, it’s another thing for you to come to me,} Jameson explained. {Let’s say…I’ve been to _your_ house quite a lot, compared to the others. And the last time I went, I thought it would be interesting to put up sign posts showing you the way to mine. But only for emergencies, understand?}

Schneep nodded hesitantly. “I might have mixed your metaphors, but I understand most of it.”

{Good.} Jameson smiled, and stood up. The doctor in the corner looked away from her phone, stuffing it in her pocket. _I’ll try to come see you again soon,_ Jameson signed. _Though I do have more to do before that._

“Understandable, my friend, but I would very much appreciate it if you came soon,” Schneep said, smiling. “It—it is nice to talk to someone who is not trying to tell me none of what I see is real, or matters at all.” The smile grew a bit strained.

 _Of course what you see matters,_ Jameson said, tactfully avoiding saying anything about how real it may be. _In fact, see anything odd lately?_

“I…suppose not,” Schneep said. “I think the last odd things I saw were…those dead things. But they haven’t been here for a while.”

_Well, that’s good, isn’t it?_

“I suppose,” Schneep repeated. “Please come back soon?”

 _I will, Henrik, don’t worry._ And with one last smile, Jameson turned and left, the doctor soon following.

“Sorry if any of that was off,” the doctor said, catching up to him. “I mean, if you’re his friend, maybe you understand. We’ve been struggling through a couple medications, and we think we finally found one that’s working, but he’s not exactly willing to take them.” 

Jameson took out his notebook and pen again. _Of course, I understand. What kind of medications?_

“I…I’m _really_ not at liberty to say,” the doctor said, taking a step back.

 _My apologies,_ Jameson wrote, looking a bit sheepish and apologetic.

“Oh, no trouble, you probably didn’t know,” the doctor laughed nervously. “But it’s highly confidential—what’s that?”

 _It’s just my watch,_ Jameson wrote down. _I was checking the time. Do you want to look at it?_

“Really? I…well, I’ve never seen one like that, outside of TV. If you’re alright with it.” The doctor took the watch, turning and looking it over. Soon, her eyes started to glaze over.

Jameson grinned. He really didn’t have time for anything elaborate or long-lasting right now, but this should come in handy in the future.

* * *

Jackie hovered around outside the old hotel. Well, perhaps that wasn’t the exact right word. ‘Hovering’ implied that he was standing up, while he was actually sitting down with his bag of stuff next to him. But he still felt like it was a good way to describe what he was doing. Waiting around, but ready to leave at any moment.

Luckily, he didn’t have to leave at all. Soon a car pulled over to the side of the road and parked; it was rather nice-looking, and thus out of place in the run-down surroundings. Jackie stood up, tensing, only relaxing slightly when Frederick opened the door and climbed out. “Um…hi,” he said. Clearly, an eloquent first thing to say.

“Hey,” Frederick said, shutting the car door. “You look a bit nervous.”

“Um…yeah.” Jackie tried to bounce on his feet, but winced and stopped. Apparently whatever healing magic Frederick did last night didn’t heal the burns completely, just enough to make him functional again. And it definitely didn’t kill the pain. “Look, I woke up, and I realized something. I know you offered to let me stay with you for a while, and it was really nice of you, but, uh…I don’t think I can.”

“Oh.” Frederick considered this. “Is…there a reason?”

“…yeah.” Jackie coughed nervously. “So, I realized you probably live in Mirygale, and I can’t really go back there, ‘cause of the whole…there’s a situation with the police and me—”

“Yes, I remember Heather blurting out last night that you and literally all your friends were criminals,” Frederick said calmly.

“Um…I don’t remember her saying that _exactly,_ ” Jackie pointed out.

“Well, no, she said you were wanted,” Frederick clarified. “But after we left and I drove her back to her flat, she said a lot more stuff that made me do some, uh…research. I didn’t see _exactly_ what you’ve done, but I got the gist.”

“Is, uh…Heather not here today?” Jackie asked.

“No, she took the train back to Mirygale. She’s still working on a piece there.” Frederick folded his arms. “Which, I guess, brings us back to Mirygale. Look, I don’t live there.”

“…oh.” Jackie blinked. “I guess I just assumed that…since you were there…”

“I was there ‘cause we got a tip that there was some serious black magic going on there,” Frederick explained. “ABIM agents aren’t exactly like a city’s police force, it’s more like we all have certain large areas that we look after. And that goes especially for people like Yvonne and me, who specialize in cases of _serious_ black magic. Basically, the more serious the case is, the less likely it’ll occur, so the wider the area an agent has to patrol.” He paused. “I’m talking a lot, aren’t I?”

“No, it’s fine,” Jackie said. “It’s interesting.”

“Anyway, my point is that I don’t live there. Yvonne did—does, even though she grew up here, but I live in a city called Red’s End, it’s about an hour away from Mirygale and it’s tiny. I drove into the city to deal with your Marvin friend.”

“He wasn’t my friend,” Jackie muttered. “As you can see by my face and my everything, he hated me.”

“Oh, uh. Sorry,” Frederick said, shifting awkwardly on his feet.

“It’s alright.” Jackie grabbed his bag off the ground, wincing a bit as he pulled it over his shoulder. “Anyway, I…I guess that’s far enough away. And I did promise to tell you about what happened the last time I saw Marvin. I can tell you on the drive, I guess.”

“Great.” Frederick gestured to the car. “All aboard, then?”

Jackie chuckled a bit, walking around the car to the passenger side. “By the way, where…where did the new car come from?”

“Awesome thing about ABIM. Because my job requires me to travel a lot, they will literally provide me with transportation if I don’t have any.” Frederick opened the car door, climbing inside again. “Let’s go.”

It took about two and a half hours to drive from the city to the little town of Red’s End, and Jackie talked the entire time. He intended to tell Frederick everything that happened since he and the others left him in the cabin, but he found himself backtracking and sidetracking and all sorts of tracking that hadn’t been invented before. A typical sentence went along the lines of, “So, you know we had to get help to get Schneep back—he’s our friend, Marvin kidnapped him, which we actually don’t know why he did, but my guess is that Marvin needed a doctor because Chase kept shooting him—oh yeah, after Marvin crashed the van we were in Chase stole a gun from a cop and shot Marvin, and we think Marvin had to get Schneep to get the bullets out, and while there he must’ve decided, ‘hey, I get on alright with this guy, and it can be super handy to have a doctor around, I’ll just keep him, cause that’s not fucked up at all’ so he kidnapped him—anyway we had to get him back, so you know that’s why we contacted you and the other lady, Yvonne.” It was not very productive, but Frederick was astonishingly patient, occasionally asking questions to move the story along.

By the time Jackie had finished, they were about forty minutes away from their destination, and he’d poured out the whole story and more. Frederick was silent for a moment, eyes on the road. The fingers of his prosthetic hand drummed on the wheel as he processed it. “So…this old enemy of your just showed up, grabbed Marvin, and both of them disappeared,” he summed up.

“Well, technically Anti was already there, but he was pretending to be someone else, but yeah.” Jackie nodded. “Honestly I don’t know why the fuck he didn’t do that before Marvin burned my face off.”

“Well, some spells take time to build up,” Frederick figured. “Maybe it was a similar thing.”

“Maybe…” Jackie agreed. “Hey, uh…how does your new magic hand work, anyway?”

“Magic,” Frederick said.

“Ha ha, I mean seriously.”

Frederick chuckled. “Well, for a magician, when you lose a limb, you have two options. Go the non-magic route, just like any other person, or get a rowan replacement.”

“That’s a type of magic wood?” Jackie asked, recognizing the word

“Well, yeah, I guess. Rowan trees aren’t inherently magical, but they’re very good at conducting magic, and witch magick, too.” Frederick flexed his wooden fingers. “The pro of a rowan replacement is that it can move basically identically to the limb it’s replacing. The con is that it’s a constant drain on your magic to keep it going. Not a lot, but it will decrease your overall reserve. I figured my reserve could handle a drain, so I went with the rowan instead of a non-magic replacement.”

“Huh. Interesting.” Jackie paused. “Can they do that with eyes?”

“Uh…I don’t know. Maybe.” Frederick glanced at him. “But rowan replacements only work if you have a magic reserve to draw from, so, you know, you couldn’t get one regardless.”

“I wasn’t…well, I…touche.” Jackie settled back against the car seat, staring out the window at the countryside. “Anyway, I got off topic there for a moment. Anything about what happened with Marvin that you don’t understand?”

Frederick paused. “Well…not exactly about him, but…you…you said you saw Yvonne.”

“I…yeah.” Jackie bit his lip, bracing himself for what’s to come. That part of the story was a part that he hadn’t intended to include, but he found himself backtracking to explain why he, Chase, and Schneep left town without Jameson. And, unfortunately, he knew that he’d have to mention how Jameson hypnotized Yvonne. He’d been waiting for Frederick to bring it up.

“You…this friend of yours…hypnotizes people,” Frederick said slowly. “And…you just…didn’t get Yvonne away from him?”

“Um…” Jackie tried not to squirm. “Nnnno.”

“Even though you knew it was wrong, and she…hadn’t done anything.”

“Y…yeah.” He was decidedly not looking at Frederick, so he couldn’t gauge his expression.

“You…didn’t even try.”

“Well, I…I didn’t think of it,” Jackie admitted.

There was a long silence for a while. “I see…” Frederick finally said. “I’m guessing you…didn’t try to do anything like that with any of the other people your friend hypnotized.”

“I…” In truth, none of them had. It wasn’t that Jackie hadn’t objected to the idea of it, it was just that…that was what Jameson did. It was unfortunate, but there was nothing they could do about it.

“So,” Frederick said. “I didn’t look up details when I was looking up you and your friends, but…what did you get arrested _for?_ ”

“Oh, a lot of things,” Jackie said dismissively. “They ended up blaming me for a lot of stuff I didn’t even do, probably because various gangs bribed them to.” 

“That’s not what I asked.” Frederick’s voice hardened. “I asked what _you_ did, not what _they_ tried to frame you for.”

Jackie inhaled sharply through his teeth. “A lot of things. I mean…well, they were all based on the same idea. There was a lot of crime in the city, the police were doing nothing about it, so I decided to take matters into my own hands.”

“Vigilantism.” Frederick nodded. “How’d you go about doing that?”

“Well, I mean, I do what I have to,” Jackie said. 

“Okay, but what specifically?” Frederick insisted.

“Uh…” This felt like an interrogation. But unlike the interrogation in the police station, he was actually nervous. “Well, I started out tipping off police to locations of arms and drug deals. When they still didn’t do anything, I went the superhero route and started tracking down criminals and, like, handcuffing them in places where they could be arrested. Of course, they ended up just getting off with minimal charges every single _fucking_ time, so I did what I have to! I stopped them the only way that would be permanent.” Jackie clenched his fists. “Because nobody else was gonna fucking do anything, there was no other punishment that would stick and keep people safe from them. And of course, they picked up that I was onto them, so I had to resort to _other_ methods to get information. Whatever. Fuck. I don’t care.” He realized he was gritting his teeth.

Perhaps five minutes passed by without Frederick saying anything, long enough for Jackie to realize he’d gone on a rant that could’ve easily convinced the magician that he was a bloodthirsty killer. But then: “So…why’d you start doing all this?” Frederick’s voice was softer than Jackie was expecting. 

“All…what?” Jackie asked.

“The whole vigilante thing. Did you want to protect people?”

“Well…yeah.” Jackie nodded. “No one else was going to,” he added bitterly.

“You wanted to keep them safe.”

“Yeah.”

“To save them from danger.”

“Yeah.”

Frederick paused. “So…when there was an opportunity in front of you to actually, actively save someone, someone who you knew was in danger and needed help…why didn’t you do anything?”

The world heaved beneath Jackie’s feet. He suddenly lost all his breath, like that last, soft-spoken question had punched him in the stomach. He opened his mouth to respond, but found no words. It was a good question. Why _hadn’t_ he done anything? If he’d started down this path intending to save people, why hadn’t he saved Yvonne from the hypnotism? Why hadn’t he saved _any_ of Jameson’s people—victims—from it? Why hadn’t he done more the first time Chase came home, saying that he might’ve killed someone in a bar? Why had he always just _gone along_ with all of Schneep’s operations despite knowing the self-proclaimed doctor was never going to actually help anyone?

The rest of the drive passed in silence. Jackie watched as the countryside fell to small buildings, and they entered the quaint sort of English town that would show up in movies about idyllic countryside life. Eventually, Frederick pulled onto the side of a road next to a house and parked the car. “So. Here we are,” he said.

Jackie nodded. “Hey, uh…thanks. For…letting me stay with you, even though…there’s the whole thing with the police.”

“I try not to get involved in non-magic justice,” Frederick said. “I have my hands full working with magic justice on its own.”

“I mean…that’s valid,” Jackie mumbled.

“Now let’s go inside.” Frederick opened the car door. “I vote that the first thing we do is take care of that mess on your head.”

“Hey…” Jackie patted his hair. “It’s been all burned, give me a break.”

“I’m pretty sure only part of it has, the rest of it looks like it’s been attacked by rabid scissors,” Frederick remarked.

“I…okay, fair. I might’ve been a little out of it when I tried to cut it.”

“Yeah. We should fix that.” Frederick stepped outside. “You coming in?”

After a moment, Jackie slowly nodded. “Yeah…yeah. Let’s go.” He stepped out of the car, and Frederick led him inside.

* * *

Chase was never expecting to have visitors in the first place. Jack had been a surprise—not necessarily a welcome one, but also kind of?—but after him, he was expecting to never again hear someone say “Mr. Chase Brody, there’s a visitor for you.”

Which is why it was a shock when he had another visitor just a few days after Jack. He asked the guard accompanying him about it, and the answer had been a mumbled, “I dunno, he kind of looks like you. But looks like he’s going to a concert or somethin’. Has a mustache.”

Immediately, Chase understood. And he wasn’t exactly happy when he walked into the empty visitation room to see Jameson fucking Jackson standing there.

 _Not very comfortable in here, is it?_ Jameson signed. _Not even any furniture._

“What do you want?” Chase asked shortly.

Jameson raised an eyebrow. _Well, there’s no need for that tone. I understand that you were upset with me a while ago, but didn’t I help you?_

“Well, I mean…yeah…” Chase folded his arms. “But that was, like, one good thing that I kinda just let you do ‘cause things were urgent.” _Very_ urgent. Even though Jameson got that hypnotized magician to teleport him to Marvin’s cabin in the woods, Chase had still barely managed to get there in time to stop Marvin from killing Jackie, or worse. “Hey, guard dude, am I allowed to just leave?” Chase glanced over his shoulder in the guard’s direction, only to be met with a familiar blank stare. He spun back to face Jameson. “Really? Through the glass and everything? Well, I might as well tell you now that the cameras are broken, so say whatever the fuck you want.”

{Oh I knew about the cameras,} Jameson said. {Asked around a bit yesterday. Look, Chase, I wanted to check on you. You were always friendly, even if you might not have considered us friends. It’s the least I can do.}

“Hmm…” Chase really, really didn’t buy that Jameson was trying to change for the better like he _clearly_ wanted him to think. Sure, maybe Jameson realized he should be a little nicer to people he wanted to be friends with. Maybe he’d realized that there wouldn’t have been a Void on the loose three months ago if he’d put his friend’s needs over his. But he didn’t think that Jameson felt _bad_ for doing any of the many, many things he’d done in the past. “Well, I’m doing alright, I guess,” Chase said grudgingly, accepting that Jameson wasn’t going to leave. “It’s not, like, the worst prison I could’ve been in.”

{Good to hear it!} Jameson smiled. {I visited Henrik this morning, he also seems to be well.}

“Really?” Chase couldn’t help but perk up. The last time he’d seen Schneep, he’d still been in the middle on an episode. “He’s doing good?”

{Much better than he was, though he doesn’t seem too happy about it, if I’m being honest,} Jameson said. {Though I imagine breaking through years of delusions and other symptoms will take a long time.}

“I mean…yeah.” Chase nodded. “But that’s…that’s good to hear. I’d go visit him, but y’know. Obvious reasons. Good that he’s better.”

{And that you’re better, too,} Jameson said. {Last I saw you, there was a terrible black magic burn. It seems to have healed.}

“Yeah, basically. There’s a scar left, but…” Chase trailed off. 

{Well, that’s much better than having black magic fester in your wounds for three months,} Jameson said. {I can’t imagine the consequences of that. Certainly not pleasant, if one would have even lasted that long.}

Chase flinched. His mind flashed back to that cabin in the woods, to watching Jackie, severely injured and with black magic inside those injuries, flee the scene of the crime rather than stay for the police to find him. “Y…yeah…” He muttered, clenching his fists. Was Jackie even still out there? Or had he…?

{I do wonder what happened after we last saw each other,} Jameson continued. {My magician did get you there, right?}

And with that, all Chase’s worry for Jackie was instantly replaced with simmering anger. “Yeah, _your_ magician did. _Your_ magician looked very tired after she did, but _your_ magician still teleported away instantly after, probably going to meet up with _you,_ since she’s _your_ magician.”

{Alright, I get the point, Chase,} Jameson frowned. {If you’re going to be so hostile, I might as well cut to the… _chase._ } He chuckled silently, a few hissing breaths. {While I was visiting Henrik, he talked about what happened in Marvin’s cabin, but he couldn’t quite get the complete picture. I was hoping you could tell me.}

And there’s the penny dropping. “You came here to ask me about that,” Chase stated.

{ _And_ to see how you were doing,} Jameson added. {The two are not mutually exclusive.}

Chase sighed. Might as well spill the beans. Jameson probably wouldn’t leave until he did. “Alright. So. The magician lady teleported me there. It took a couple tries, but once I got there, I ran to the nearest window. Looking inside, I saw Marvin, glowing like a freaky purple blacklight, and Jackie, and Schneep, and someone who I thought was Jack. Schneep was kinda trapped, there was this ring of purple fire around him. Jack looked unconscious, but, y’know, appearances can be deceiving. And Jackie was…” Chase swallowed a lump in his throat. “…he was screaming. Marvin was doing some black magic shit to him, I could see it, a-and I had my gun, and I had to stop him. So I shot Marvin.”

Jameson’s expression was unreadable. He nodded, slowly.

“Of course, the dick noticed that, and he saw me in the window. Broke it, pulled me inside, and I was like ‘fuck, this is it, but at least I’ll go down fighting.’ And then the guy who I thought was Jack got up and tackled Marvin, and I realized it wasn’t actually him, it was the glitch. Anti. Anti grabbed Marvin, and the two of them just disappeared.”

{Oh. Oh, I see.} Jameson pursed his lips, looking thoughtful. {Was there any sort of…effect after they disappeared?}

“Effect? Um, I guess, if that’s what you wanna call it.” Chase shook his head, trying to find words to describe it. “It was like…there were these 3D shadows, but somehow tinted red, right where the two of them had been. And there were a few of them, like…y’know that multiplying effect they do in movies to show someone’s dizzy? It looked like that, too. And it just sort of…faded.”

{ _Oh._ I see,} Jameson said again, his eyes wide. {I understand.}

“You do? Good, that makes one of us.” Chase sighed. “Can you leave now? And put the guard back to normal?”

Jameson didn’t reply for a while. {But you are doing alright here, right, Chase? Do you want to get out?}

“I mean, yeah, of course,” Chase said, shrugging. “But also no. ‘Cause I…I really shouldn’t be out there. I miss a lot of things about…going out, but I don’t think they’re worth it.” He looked Jameson in the eye, maintaining contact for a silent few seconds. “So, I guess the answer is actually no.”

{Alright. If you insist.} Jameson backed up. {Perhaps I’ll come see you again.}

“If you really want to,” Chase replied unenthusiastically. “Goodbye.”

Jameson nodded, then left. The guard soon snapped out of his trance, and Chase went back inside. Hopefully, Jameson wouldn’t actually show up again.

Heading on his way outside, Jameson ran into a small, mousy haired woman who was leaving at the same time he was. “Oh, sorry!” she said. “Guess I wasn’t looking where I was going.” She laughed, but it soon faded. “Hey, you look familiar…”

Jameson shrugged, and gave her a smile before heading on his way. He didn’t look back, so he had no way of knowing that the small woman was staring after him, and after a moment, started to follow.

He soon found where the car he rented was parked. His magician was standing outside, her eyes dull and staring into nothing. He frowned, looking her over. Maybe he should get rid of the last bit of dye in her hair; it would make her a lot less identifiable. {Get ready to drive,} he told her. {Plan to head towards the Irish Sea.}

She nodded, and got inside the car. Jameson followed suit. He still didn’t notice the small woman, now staring at him with very wide eyes. Those wide eyes tracked the car as it left the parking lot and headed onto the road.

After a moment of standing there, the woman took her phone out of her pocket and called a number from her contacts. The moment the other end was picked up, she started talking. “Hi, Fengge, it’s me. I know I just saw you yesterday but this is really important. I think I just found Yvonne. I’d recognize her anywhere, y’know, since she’s my sister. She was at the prison with a guy who looked like the rest of this whole group, but he had a mustache and was dressed fancy. What’re we going to do?”

Meanwhile, the car headed northwest, towards the Irish Sea. Jameson had an idea of what to do next.


	38. Outer Voice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jackie finds himself reconsidering some things while staying with this magician, especially as the two of them search for Jameson. Meanwhile, Jack and Stacy continue with their search, now preparing for the next step in their plan.

Someone was knocking on the door. Jackie groaned, and rolled over. He opened his eyes to glare at the offending sound. Part of him wanted to snap that he wanted to be left alone right now, but then again, this wasn’t his house, or even his city. Honestly, he should be considering himself lucky that he was spending time in a guest bedroom instead of squatting in an abandoned hotel. Jackie sighed, and called out, “What is it?”

The door opened, and Frederick poked his head inside. “Hey, just wanted to see what you wanted for dinner.”

“Uh…little early for that, isn’t it?” Jackie asked.

“Well, I was thinking about ordering something, and it might take a while since a lot of takeout places are from out of town,” Frederick said. “So? What do you think?”

“Um…” Jackie shifted to stare upwards at the ceiling. “I dunno. Pizza or Chinese, I guess.”

Frederick made a face. “Pizza it is.”

“Aw, you don’t get Panda Express in this town?” Jackie said in an attempt to be lighthearted.

“Eh. Don’t feel like ordering soggy fried rice,” Frederick said, leaning against the door frame and pulling a phone out of his jacket pocket. “Trust me, by the time it gets here, it’s gonna be even worse than it was to start.”

“I like Chinese food…” Jackie mumbled.

“Yeah, I do too, but only if it’s real,” Frederick muttered. “I bet you’ve never even had proper huǒguō.”

“Proper what?”

“My point exactly.” Frederick was now tapping on his phone, presumably finding a website. “Maybe I’ll make you some one time, you’ll have to remind me.”

Jackie felt a lump in his throat. “I mean, you don’t have to—”

“Well, I’m gonna end up making dinner for you some time, if you’re staying here.” Frederick shrugged. “What toppings do you like?”

“Uh…I dunno, pepperoni?” Jackie muttered, looking away. Absentmindedly, he reached up and ran his hands through his hair; Frederick had given it a trim earlier, and now it was just long enough to brush his chin. He was still getting used to it.

“Got it.” Frederick looked around the room, specifically at the closed shutters. “Were you, uh…taking a nap?”

“Nah,” Jackie said casually. “I’m just—bro, I’m just sitting here.” He chuckled a bit. “Y’know, trying to not be in pain.”

Frederick hissed. He looked almost…guilty? “Sorry, I tried…but I mean…now that the black magic’s gone, everything should heal normally.”

“Yeah, you said that…thanks,” Jackie said, looking back in his direction. “For the, uh…I know I’ve said it before, but for the whole healing thing.”

“No problem,” Frederick said. He then cleared his throat. “I’ll, uh…order everything, and you can uh…come out when the pizza gets here.” He backed up. “Uh…bye.” As he left, he shut the door behind him.

Jackie sighed again, rolling onto his back. He couldn’t just hide in the guest bedroom the whole time. Well, technically, he could, it’s not like there was anything preventing him from staying in the room and only leaving for the bathroom. But…he didn’t necessarily want to. He’d hadn’t really talked to anyone in three months. Even before the burns got too bad, he only spoke to others when necessary. Of course, that was because he was afraid to get caught by the police. Or…maybe it wasn’t, not entirely. Part of it might’ve just been…moping. Brooding. He laughed to himself. ‘Brooding’…he really was an edgy superhero, wasn’t he?

Well, the point still stood. He was tired of hiding. And if he was going to be staying here for a while, since Frederick was kind enough to let him despite…everything that happened between them…the least he could do was talk to him. With a groan, Jackie sat up, took a moment to breathe, and stood up, walking out of the room.

Frederick’s house was fairly small, basically only four rooms and a bathroom with a hallway down the middle connecting everything. Of course, ‘rooms’ wasn’t the right word, since only the two bedrooms and the bathroom actually had walls, with the kitchen and living room area open. Luckily, this design meant it wasn’t too far a walk to the next nearest chair, which Jackie immediately fell into, exhaling in relief. He looked around the living area. There were…a lot of potted plants. He’d taken note of that when he first entered the house, but it was really sinking in now. Appropriately, most of the furniture seemed to have been chosen because they were colors that went well with the various plant-y shades of green. And also because of comfort, since a lot of it seemed thrown together without an overlying style, but it all looked pretty soft. There was even a large, brown beanbag, one of the ones you could throw yourself into and practically hide inside.

Speaking of said beanbag, it seemed that Frederick had decided that was the best place to settle. He was fiddling with a remote, causing the nearby television to flicker, when he noticed Jackie walked in. “Hey,” he said.

“Hey,” Jackie answered. “Uh…what’re you doing?”

“Setting up YouTube on the TV,” Frederick said casually.

“Oh, I forgot that was a thing TVs could do now,” Jackie muttered.

A smile twitched on Frederick’s face. “I mean, yeah, it’s been like that in some form or another for a while.”

“Shut up, I have ADHD,” Jackie mumbled, covering his eyes with his arm.

“You do? Okay, but, can I ask how that’s related?”

“It means time is an illusion.”

Frederick let out a short huff of laughter. “I’ll take your word for it.” He fell silent for a moment, finishing getting the TV set up. “Y’know, Heather might have ADD too.”

“If you’re just saying that ‘cause she talks a lot—”

“No, I’m saying it cause she told Eve and me that she might,” Frederick interrupted. “Apparently she’d been looking into it.”

“…huh. Well, if that’s the case…”

Frederick paused for a moment, using the remote to scroll through YouTube’s homepage. “Hey, would you be bothered if I played something? Do you want, like, earbuds?”

Jackie glanced at the TV screen. “Depends on what you’re gonna watch. Wow…you have a lot of video essays in your recommended, huh?”

“I like to have them on in the background,” Frederick said. “Nothing more relaxing than hearing someone review a movie you’ve never seen.”

Jackie couldn’t help but laugh at that. “Yeah…”

Before either of them could continue the conversation, if it could be called that, they were interrupted by a vibrating noise. Frederick frowned, and adjusted his position, taking his phone out from where it had been squashed between him and the beanbag. He glanced briefly at the caller ID before answering. “Hey H—” He suddenly stopped, cut off. Then his eyes widened and he sits up straight. “Where?” After listening for a moment, he glanced at Jackie, expression…almost afraid. “I know who that is. Did they leave?” A pause. Jackie leaned forward, anxious to hear what this was about. “Can you follow them?” Another pause. “Hurry, hurry! Call me back later! I-I’ll call _you_ later! This is more important!” A moment later, he pulled the phone away from his ear and shot to his feet.

“What’s going on?” Jackie asked, watching as Frederick started pacing the room.

“Y’know your Jameson friend?” Frederick said, too busy pacing to even look at Jackie. “Heather just saw him…and Yvonne.”

Jackie froze for a moment, shocked. “Wh…what? Where?”

“She was at Rysmark Prison,” Frederick said, now running his hands through his hair as he walked. “She’s been planning to do this piece on your Chase friend for her article thing…maybe that’s why Jameson was there, too? To talk to him?”

“For Jameson to talk to Chase? Uh…” Jackie frowned. “I mean…we didn’t exactly part on the best of terms with him. And Chase particularly blew up at him. I told you about that on the way here, didn’t I?”

“Yeah, you did, you did, I…” Frederick let out a frustrated groan, and punched the nearest wall. Close by, a potted plant rattled in its stand. Green magic twirled around the plant’s fronds, causing them to lengthen.

“Whoa, hey.” Jackie stood up. “It…we…you can figure something out.” He wasn’t sure how much he was…allowed to help with this, given he hadn’t tried to help Yvonne when she first got hypnotized. Like he should’ve.

“Do you know where Jameson would be heading?” Frederick asked. “If we know where he’s going, we might be able to beat him there.”

Jackie shook his head. “I…don’t…I mean, there was his apartment, but that was all I knew…I don’t even know if he’s even still been staying there.”

“It’s okay, okay,” Frederick muttered. “Heather’s following them, we should be able to get an idea where he’s heading.”

“Um…” Jackie shifted where he was standing. “Can’t you…track them? Like you tracked me?”

Frederick slowed his pacing. “I tried finding Eve that way,” he said quietly. “But…somehow, all the spells I know fell flat. But I-I don’t know that many, so I thought, hey, talk to Magi about it, they’ll be concerned about a missing agent…” He shook his head. “But they couldn’t find her either. Somehow, she’s been…blocked.”

“Oh.” Jackie knew, instinctively, that this was Jameson’s fault. Somehow, he’d blocked Yvonne, and probably himself, from whatever magical radar the magicians were using. He swallowed nervously. If he’d just…done _something_ back when the three of them left Jameson…

“I’m…I’m gonna call into Magi,” Frederick muttered, taking out his phone again. “Maybe, now that we have a kind of lead, they’ll send backup.”

“Um…maybe.” Jackie wasn’t sure what Magi was. He guessed it was the magic police, like how this ABIM was the magic government. Which would make it Frederick’s boss. “Had they…did they not do that yet?”

“Not exactly.” Frederick tried to tap the screen for a moment, then frowned as he realized the phone wasn’t responding because he was trying to dial with his prosthetic hand. Grumbling, he switched hands. “I mean, there was an investigation. Magician disappears off the face of the earth, an agent no less, they’re gonna at least try to find her. But after three months, they’ve basically said, ‘well, guess the black magic magician you were after killed her while you were passed out,’ which…” He paused, something sad flashing in his eyes. “…which I guess was always possible. But Yvonne is tougher than that, I-I always knew…” He trailed off.

Jackie shifted awkwardly. “Well…now you know all about the hypnotism and stuff, so…”

“Yeah, that’s what I meant by lead,” Frederick said, pressing the phone to his ear while it rang. “Though I’m not sure how to tell them about that—oh, hang on.”

Jackie backed up, sitting back down in the chair. Apparently he couldn’t decide whether or not to stand. As Frederick had his conversation on the phone, Jackie looked out the nearest window, out onto the street. His eyes glazed over as he started to think. God, Frederick was so…he was practically drowning in worry for his friend. And Jackie couldn’t help but wonder…if he’d done something, could this have been prevented? How many times had someone else in the city felt something like this? Fear and grief over a lost friend or family matter. And how many of those cases could’ve been prevented if he’d kept his focus on protecting people instead of getting rid of the bad guys?

He really did start out with the people as his focus, not the criminals. But he couldn’t count the number of times he’d seen one of those criminals walk away, because the ones who were supposed to keep them away from innocents were either negligent or downright corrupt. He’d thought that…if he could just keep the crime away, then he’d be able to keep people safe. But…as time passed, he’d forgotten. Concentrating so much on getting rid of the criminals that he’d left behind the reason he wanted them gone in the first place.

“Are you sure? I-I mean, she’s Yvonne’s sister, she wouldn’t lie!” Frederick’s words snapped Jackie back to reality. “What if she took pictures? What if—” He stopped, cut off. “Really? Well, _I’m_ available, what if I—” And he was cut off once again. Jackie watched as his expression darkened. “Alright. I understand…yeah. Yeah. Okay. Bye.” And Frederick hung up.

“No luck?” Jackie asked.

“They say she could be mistaken,” Frederick muttered. “And that they don’t have agents to spare anyway.” He sighed deeply. “It’s a bunch of bureaucracy, really.”

“Of course,” Jackie muttered.

“But I mean…we have that for a reason,” Frederick added. “We don’t want a bunch of magicians running around and getting exposed to regular people.”

“This is something I never understood,” Jackie said. “Why hide from normal—I mean, uh, not-magic people? What’re we gonna do about it?”

“I mean, I dunno, the not-magic government has guns,” Frederick said absentmindedly. “Bunch of high-grade weaponry. Honestly, if you have a gun and are good with it, you can easily take down a magician. Your friend Chase shot Marvin and managed to stall him a lot, right? I bet if Marvin hadn’t become a Void, he would’ve died eventually from the wounds.”

“Huh. That’s a good point,” Jackie said.

“Also, there are a lot more not-magic people than there are magicians, or even witches,” Frederick added.

“Okay, okay, I get it.” Jackie fell silent. He watched Frederick lean against the nearest wall and close his eyes. When he’d had the chance to help Yvonne before, he hadn’t acted. But maybe, now… “Well…couldn’t you just…y’know…go after Jameson and Yvonne yourself?” he suggested tentatively.

Frederick opened his eyes and looked over at Jackie, frowning. “I mean…I _could._ But that could get me in trouble with the ABIM. I could be registered as a rogue agent, which, as I just said, is taken real seriously, since a rogue agent could reveal magic to anyone.”

“Okay, but it might not take that long,” Jackie pointed out. “What if you just meet up with Heather following them, and only stuck around long enough to get proof that it is actually Yvonne and she’s actually been hypnotized. Then you could give that proof to…whoever’s in charge. This Magi thing.”

Frederick didn’t answer, pressing his lips together as he thought about this. Running his fingers through his hair, he said, “I mean…that would certainly lessen the chances of…” He shook his head. “But Heather could just as easily do that herself.”

“Yeah, but also, uh…” Jackie tried to think of a good way to put this. “I mean…Heather’s a bit…she doesn’t exactly look like she’s good in a fight. Though, I mean, that could be different, deceiving looks and all that,” he hurried to add.

Frederick laughed. “Nice.”

Jackie didn’t answer. He could feel his face getting hot with embarrassment.

“Well…you’re not wrong,” Frederick said. “Heather’s alright in a scrap, but Yvonne has magic, and Jameson is a hypnotist. She wouldn’t be prepared for that.” He paused. “I mean…if we’re going to do this, we’d have to hurry. We don’t know how far away they’re going, and we could easily lose them.”

Jackie blinked. “Uh. ‘We’?”

“Yeah, of course you’re coming,” Frederick said casually. “You suggested it. And you also know more about Jameson than I do.”

“I…I could’ve sworn I just told you I don’t know that much.”

“ _More than I do,_ still,” Frederick emphasized. “You want to get anything to take with us?”

“Uh…sure, I’ll just…get my bag.” He hadn’t bothered to unpack all his stuff after he’d arrived, so he knew where everything was. Jackie stood up to go back to the bedroom, but hesitated. “Are…you sure that you want me to come?”

“Yeah. Just don’t go off and kill the guilty party before we arrest him.” Frederick laughed, but gave Jackie a look.

“Um…yeah, no, I…won’t.” Jackie backed up. “I’ll…be back in five minutes.” And he turned and left, distracting himself from the comment by making a list on what he wanted to bring.

* * *

Meanwhile, across the Irish Sea, Jack was starting to get a little anxious. And tired. He and Stacy had spent most of the afternoon helping Tiernan prepare for…well, he wasn’t exactly sure how they’d be going about this. Apparently there was a very specific process for summoning a spirit, and Tiernan had yet to explain it to him. So, he just had to take it in good faith that it was important he walk all around the cabin, in what must’ve been a mile-long perimeter, looking at these rocks with symbols drawn on them and comparing them to symbols in a book to make sure none of them had been smudged. That had taken a while, and it was about five o’clock by the time he came back to the cabin.

Stacy, sitting in the living area, looked up when he came in. “Hey, Jack,” she said. “How’d it go?”

“Great. Fucking…fantastic,” he muttered. He reached back and patted to make sure Sam was still there. Last he’d checked, they’d decided to settle down in the hood of his jacket, riding around like a baby in…one of those baby-carrying things that strapped to your chest, he wasn’t sure what the specific term was. They immediately swatted his hand with their nerve-tail and said that no, they were not getting out. “Alright, then,” Jack said. “Anyway, what’ve you been doing?”

Stacy pointed at the coffee table. It had been empty when Jack left, but now it was surrounded by boxes, and there were rows and rows of crystals lined up on its surface. Most of them looked like something you could buy in a gift shop somewhere, but a few were larger, rougher. “We’ve been looking through storage for these,” Stacy said tiredly. “Apparently there’s magic stored in them.”

“Oh. Wow.” Jack blinked. “Wonder how that works.”

“Yeah, me too,” Stacy said. “I mean, Tiernan tried to explain it to me, but I forgot a lot of what he said. It’s something to do with the structure of crystally stuff that makes them conduct magic. I guess that’s why crystal balls are a thing.”

“Huh.” Jack walked over, picking up one of a crystals and turning it over in his hands. This one was red, a cluster of fractals forming a rough cylinder. “Oh!” He physically jolted as he remembered something. “Marvin had a crystal he always wore. Like, a green one, it held his cape closed. After…well, the whole Void thing happened, it…turned dark. And cracked.”

“Really?” Tiernan entered the room, holding another box. “Did I hear t’at righ’, the crystal broke after the Void transformation?”

Jack frowned. “I mean, I’m pretty sure. I was mostly concerned with not having a panic attack at the time. But I think I remember that.”

“Int’resting,” Tiernan muttered. “I s’pose the magic stored in the crystal was somehow corrupted. Or maybe ‘t was sucked away too quickly.” He shook his head. “Ah, anyway, how’re t’ings wit’ the circle?”

“It all looks good,” Jack told him. “Um…why do we need that?”

“Jus’ a precaution,” Tiernan said vaguely. He set the box down next to all the others surrounding the coffee table.

“I don’t like the idea of ‘precautions’ when we’re gonna be doing necromancy,” Stacy muttered.

“What? Would you prefer we don’t have any?” Jack commented, grinning.

“Hey! That’s not what I meant!” Stacy protested. “I just mean that it says something might go wrong. What if we start the zombie apocalypse.”

Tiernan laughed. “’t woul’ take a lot of magic t’start the apocalypse. I doubt all the necromancers in the country coul’ do t’at.” He shook his head, still chuckling. “No, the outer circle is in case the inner circle fails. It’ll keep the spirit from wanderin’. Wouldn’ want to cause a scare.”

“Okay…” Stacy said slowly. “And all the crystals?”

“Well, I did say t’woul’ take a lot of magic,” Tiernan said, now rummaging through the box. “So I’m goin’ t’ withdraw all the magic I have stored in t’ese. But it may fade or worse, so I’ll hafta wait until we’re right about t’start.”

“And when _are_ we gonna start?” Jack asked.

Tiernan blinked. “Didn’ I tell you?”

Jack and Stacy shook their heads in unison.

“Ah. Well, tonight. Necromancy is strongest at night. Some magic is like t’at, linked to time, like divination is strongest in the summer.” Tiernan pulled a round blue crystal out of the box, placing it on the table with the others. “So we shoul’ do it at the peak of night. Not midnight, surprisingly, but aroun’ t’is time of year, about 12:30 am.”

Stacy blinked. “Well, I’m looking forward to that,” she drawled.

“12:30 isn’t that late,” Jack said.

“I mean, I guess not,” Stacy said. “But still.”

“Point taken.” Jack exhaled slowly. He felt like all this should be going faster. Like…they were so close to figuring out where Anti was and how to get there, but if they could just do it a bit sooner, it would be even better. He wasn’t sure why he was so nervous about it, really. Anti had been gone for three months already, a few more hours wouldn’t hurt…right?

“I mean, t’ere’s nothin’ stoppin’ either of you from takin’ a nap,” Tiernan suggested. “I can probably do the rest meself. Thank you for helpin’ out t’is far, by the way.”

“You’re welcome,” Jack said, making an OK symbol with his fingers.

“No problem,” Stacy said. “Now…I think I will go take a nap. If you’ll excuse me…” She pushed past the other two and disappeared down the hall.

Jack glanced over at Tiernan. “So…we don’t do anything until tonight.”

“Yep.”

“Right. Just want to make sure you’re down with all this.”

Tiernan raised an eyebrow. “I seem t’recall it bein’ my idea.”

“…oh. Right.” Jack laughed nervously. “But, like, if you ever change your mind, you know you don’t have to keep going just cause we still want to go through with it.”

“Duly noted. T’anks for the offer, Jack.” Tiernan grinned. “But really, I’m ready for t’is. I was sorta half-considerin’ it already, hence why I set up the outer circle. I mean, ‘t is not every day ye get to talk to a two-thousand-year-old spirit. T’is’ll be exciting! Even if I pass out later, which I’m tryin’ real hard to prepare for wit’ all the extra stored magic.”

Jack nodded. “Alright. Got it. Just…remember. I’m really glad you’re willing to go this far to help me a-and Stacy find Anti, like seriously, thank you, but, uh…your, uh…y’know, making sure you’re okay with it is very important.”

Tiernan gave him an odd look. Then smiled. “I got it, Jack. An’ I’m happy to help.” He turned his attention to the crystals on the table. “Why don’ you rest up, as well? Just in case we end up stayin’ up late.”

“Right. I’ll go do that.” Honestly, after all that walking, a rest sounded really good right now. He turned to leave the room, heading towards one of the bedrooms.

But still, his stomach felt tied in knots, and it was a while until he could rest.

* * *

It was around seven o’clock, slightly into twilight with the hints of the sunset still lingering, and Heather was waiting in the parking lot of a grocery store. She checked her phone one more time, then when she looked up again, she saw a familiar car. Grinning, she waved as it turned into the parking lot and pulled up next to the one she’d rented.

Frederick stepped out of the driver’s side door, looking around at the empty parking lot. “Wow. Quiet.”

Jackie opened the passenger door, but didn’t step out. “So…hi,” he said, waving awkwardly at Heather. “How’s it going?”

Heather shrugged. “Alright, for what it’s worth. I mean, I’ve been following my sister and this weird guy who looks like you all day, I really hope they haven’t seen me, and also I can tell Eve’s acting weird cause her hair dye is fading, and it’s kinda worrying…but alright, considering all that.”

“That’s fair,” Jackie said.

“You took pictures?” Frederick asked.

“A few. I’ll send them to you, but they’re not really good cause they’re all from a distance and through windows and stuff.” Heather tapped around on her phone until it made the _swoop_ sound of a sent message.

Frederick nodded, glancing around once again. “This is a coast city,” he said. “It has a ferry across the Sea. They could be heading out of the country.”

“Is that a problem?” Jackie asked.

“Hmm…” Frederick considered this, leaning against the car as he adjusted the buttons on his peacoat. “I mean, ABIM still had jurisdiction there. The I stands for ‘Irish,’ after all. But we could lose them.”

“Couldn’t we technically lose them anywhere?” Heather asked. “I mean, I dunno about you two, since you were basically following me, but I got real close to losing track of them on the drive over here. At least Ireland is pretty. I think. Never been.”

“Wow, H,” Frederick said, raising an eyebrow. “It’s literally just a few hours away. You could take a day trip.”

“I know, I know, it’s always been on my list,” Heather said defensively.

“Hey, I mean, I haven’t been there since I was fifteen,” Jackie said. “So you’re good.”

“Wait, really?” Heather asked. “Your accent’s a lot stronger than I would’ve expected if you haven’t been there if fifteen years.”

“Thirteen, actually, but I appreciate the extra two years,” Jackie said dully.

“Oh. Wait, didn’t you say fifteen?”

“Yeah, in that I was fifteen years old when my parents moved to Mirygale and brought me with them.”

“Okay, anyway,” Frederick interrupted. “Where are they? Yvonne, I mean.”

Heather pointed across the street at a tall building. “The guy checked the two of them into that hotel. They haven’t left since, unless I missed something. Can you, like, magically see if they’re in there?”

“Uh, _I_ can’t, no,” Frederick said. “A soul magician like Yvonne would be able to.” He stared at the building, eyes scanning it up and down. “Okay. So. How’re we going to get proof that Yvonne is here?”

“Break in?” Jackie suggested.

“What? No.”

“It’s not like we’ll be taking anything,” Jackie protested. “And as soon as we get inside, nobody will realize anything’s odd. It’s a hotel, they don’t know what all their guests look like, they won’t pick us out of the crowd.”

“I mean, a place like that probably has security cameras?” Heather rolled her eyes. “And you’re, like, a fugitive. And I don’t want to become a fugitive. And Frederick might have to do magic, and we don’t want that on the cameras, because people will know about magic, and he’ll become a magic fugitive.”

“Alright, point taken,” Jackie said, backing off. He sighed, and finally got out of the car. “Do you two mind if I walk around?”

Frederick shrugged. “Go ahead. But can you stay vaguely within eyeshot? Cause you don’t have a phone, so we can’t call you if things happen.”

“Got it.” Jackie nodded once. He pulled the hood of his black-and-red hoodie up, effectively hiding most of his face, including his eyepatch. After adjusting the strap of his shoulder bag, he left Frederick and Heather to continue to argue about what to do, and headed out to the street.

Jackie stood on the edge of the sidewalk, watching the cars drive past. It wasn’t a big city, but it was a busy one. He backed up, staring through the traffic at the hotel on the other side of the road. Maybe he should just break in on his own, without the other two. That way, they wouldn’t get in trouble. Except he didn’t have a phone to take pictures as ‘proof.’ And what else would even count as ‘proof’? What were these guys expecting? Hair clippings? DNA evidence?

He looked down the sidewalk. Stores and restaurants along the street were lighting up their signs for the night, making sure people knew they were still open. The streetlamps were on as well, and apparently had been for a while. In their light, he could see someone walking down the sidewalk. As the person got closer, Jackie realized it was a boy, looking slightly older than a teenager, with a backpack on his shoulder. He’d barely identified the boy as such when someone else appeared. Someone considerably larger and taller. His eye narrowed as he watched the older man talk to the younger one, then grab him by the arm and pull him off the street.

Without even thinking about it, Jackie headed in that direction.

There was a small alleyway between two of the buildings, because of course there was. There was always an alleyway, and quite frankly, Jackie was getting kind of tired of them. After all, they didn’t exactly have a lot of room for people to fight, yet that always seemed to be the end result. Standing at the mouth of this particular alley, Jackie could see the two men from before, the larger one pinning the smaller one to the wall. He caught snatches of their conversation.

“—just take it, I-I know it’s not that much—”

“You have a card on you, don’t you?”

“What? I-I mean, yes, take that too, just don’t—”

“And a phone, I’m guessing?”

“Look, just take whatever you want, just leave me alone!”

The larger man was about to say something else, but then noticed Jackie standing in the alleyway. He turned to face him, and Jackie caught the glint of something in his hand. “You better scram, guy.”

Jackie didn’t say anything, just reached inside his bag.

“Hey, I said scram!” The larger man brandished what was now clearly a knife. Meanwhile, the smaller man glanced at Jackie, terror evident on his face.

“Yeah, uh…no,” Jackie said, walking forward. “Rather not take any chances, y’know? What’re you up to over here?”

“None of your business!” The larger man scowled. “Look, I’m giving you one last chance to just walk away from this. Any closer, and I’m shoving this down your—”

Jackie pulled what looked like a short rod out of his bag and leaped forward. He twisted it, and the staff expanded out to its full length just in time to slam into the side of the larger man’s head. “Run!” Jackie yelled, and the smaller man wasted no time doing so.

The larger man recovered quickly. “Why you—” He growled, and lunged forward. Jackie recognized the same stabbing motion he’d seen a thousand times before, and easily sidestepped out of the way, letting the man barrel past him.

As the man ran past, Jackie stuck out the staff, essentially tripping him. The man stumbled, and Jackie yanked the staff back, causing him to fall to the ground. The knife he’d been holding clattered against the concrete. Before the man could get up, Jackie dropped, pressing a knee into his back and pinning him there. He grabbed the fallen knife and pressed it to the man’s throat. “Now, it’s not very nice to be on the other end, isn’t it?” He said in a low voice. “Maybe you should reconsider this line of work. I bet I can convince you—”

The small alleyway was suddenly lit up green. Jackie looked up just in time to see something glowing a bright emerald green heading straight for him. The green glow slammed right into his chest with enough force to push him a few feet down the alley and knock the breath out of him. He looked up to see Frederick, eyes glowing, now standing in the entrance.

“What the _fuck,_ Jackie?” He demanded, scowling. The other man rolled over, catching his attention. He pointed at him. “You.” Then snapped his fingers and pointed down the street. “Out.” The man didn’t hesitate to stand up and practically run out of the alley, probably intimidated by the pissed-off guy whose eyes were bright green.

Jackie, having landed on his back, took a moment to recover from the shock. His burns had flared in intense pain from the blow, but he gritted his teeth and tried to sit up. Only to find he couldn’t. Strands of green magic had wrapped around his torso and buried into the ground. So instead, he craned his head to watch as Frederick walked closer. “Uh…hey,” Jackie said.

Frederick knelt down next to Jackie. “Let me repeat that: what the _fuck?_ ” His scowl deepened. “You walk away for five minutes, and when I look in your direction, you’re running after some guy in an alley!”

“To be fair, he’d dragged some kid into the alley, I didn’t just attack him,” Jackie said defensively.

“Mm-hmm. And at what point did you jump from ‘gotta protect the kid’—who looked university age by the way, don’t think I don’t notice how you’re calling him a kid to make yourself look better—to ‘gotta hold this guy at knifepoint’?”

Jackie squirmed, the movement restricted by the magic. “Well…he did it first.”

Frederick raised an eyebrow. “That…is the _epitome_ of childish excuses.”

Okay, maybe he could’ve phrased it better. “Look, he was going to mug the other guy!” Jackie protested. “I heard him demanding all his shit! And he was probably gonna stab him after, that’s what they usually do, so I had to—”

“Stab him first.”

“I hadn’t done anything yet!”

“‘Yet.’” Frederick’s expression was unmoving, completely unfazed by any of Jackie’s excuses. “Look, just because a guy was stealing stuff from someone, does not mean he’s going to stab that someone. In fact, most petty criminals care more about the money than causing harm, which is why people sometimes give tips to throw your wallet and then run the other direction.”

Jackie suddenly giggled. “Street smarts.”

“Listen, Jackie!” Frederick snapped. Jackie immediately shut his mouth. “And besides, even if he was going to hurt the other guy, that doesn’t mean you get to kill him first!”

“I…wasn’t going to _kill_ him,” Jackie said quietly. “Just…knock him around. Show him what it’s like so maybe he’ll reconsider what he was doing.”

“Y’know maybe he needed the money,” Frederick suggested. “Maybe he hates doing this, but he has no other way to get income. Maybe you should _fucking consider that!_ ”

Jackie stared at him, mouth open, but no words coming out. Really, he knew that a lot of criminals hadn’t chosen that life. But…actually, he couldn’t think of a ‘but.’ He just…jumped immediately to the worse-case scenario. “I…”

Frederick muttered something under his breath. The green magic melted away, and he held out his hand for Jackie to take. “Look, we’re getting a room in that hotel. Might as well. Heather already went ahead to get it sorted out.”

Jackie hesitated, then took the offered hand and let Frederick help him up. He then started to walk away, but was held back when Frederick didn’t let go of his hand. “I…um…” Jackie looked down at their clasped hands. Then up again. “I…what’s, um…”

Frederick rolled his eyes. “Yeah, no, you’re not going out on your own.”

“Oh.” Jackie’s first instinct had been that they were holding hands for an entirely different reason. A reason that made no sense at all in the current context. He was glad that the alleyway was unlit, because the shadows hid the fact that his face was slowly turning red.

He felt Frederick’s grip tighten, and when he next looked down at their hands, Jackie saw a ring of green magic circle each of their wrists before fading away. “Just in case,” Frederick said. “Because clearly, you’re going to go running off at any second.”

“I…no,” Jackie said weakly.

“Anyway, let’s go. Put your staff back in the bag.” Frederick started walking, still holding Jackie by the hand. Jackie stumbled to catch up, awkwardly twisting the staff one-handedly and shoving it back into his bag once it shrank.

The two of them walked down to a crosswalk, waiting for a break in the traffic. Jackie shifted awkwardly, looking over at Frederick, who didn’t even glance his way. Shame suddenly curled in his stomach. He looked away.

Frederick had known about…how Jackie was, hadn’t he? Of course, he hadn’t known initially, but he’d done research afterward. Surely he must’ve known. But he was still reacting like this. Like…Jackie was the bad guy. Which he wasn’t. Clearly, the guy who’d been about to mug someone was the villain here. Not Jackie. He’d just been doing what he had to.

Except…did he _have_ to?

The traffic cleared up, and the two of them crossed the street. Frederick walked slightly faster than Jackie, which felt wrong, because Jackie could’ve sworn he didn’t walk this fast before. The two of them walked over to the hotel. Through the glass front doors, Heather was visible, sitting in the lobby on her phone.

Before Frederick could open the door to go inside, Jackie coughed, clearing his throat. “I’m…sorry,” he said quietly.

Frederick glanced at him. “Well. Apology accepted.”

And then he opened the door, and went inside like nothing had happened. But Jackie…didn’t feel right.


	39. Digging Up the Past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack and Stacy finally find the information they're looking for, but there may be a delay in the next part of the plan. Meanwhile, Jackie and the others scramble to keep tracking Jameson.

The moon overhead wasn’t quite full, but it still provided enough silver light to illuminate the field. Stacy, apparently not trusting the moon, had her flashlight out, shining the beam over the circles drawn in the grass. “This looks like a setting from a horror movie,” she commented.

“Hey, there’s nothing horror-y about this at all!” Jack said, grinning. “We’re just two young people out in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by forest, meeting up with a guy we’ve only known for a couple days—whose eyes sometimes glow red—so that we can use a mysterious ritual to summon a dead spirit.”

Stacy rolled her eyes, but chuckled a bit. “Speaking of this guy with the glowing red eyes, where is he? We kinda need him.”

“Hmm.” Jack looked back towards the cabin. It was some ways away at this point. Apparently for safety reasons; Tiernan said that if the spell went haywire, he didn’t want it to ruin anything. Which wasn’t a good sign, if Jack was being honest with himself. “Oh, there he is.” Jack pulled out his own flashlight, shining it on an approaching figure. “Hey!”

Tiernan looked up, waving at the two of them. He quickly picked up the pace, clutching a backpack to his chest. “How’s ev’ryt’ing lookin’ out here?!” He called as soon as he was in earshot.

“Oh, it’s just grand!” Jack answered.

“You ever notice how your accent gets thicker the longer we’re here?” Stacy mentioned.

Jack laughed. “Ah, it’s the blood of the motherland! Bein’ back here’s awakened my good ol’ Irish heritage.”

“Okay, now you’re laying it on.”

Tiernan reached the edge of the design drawn in the grass, looking it over. The main body was a circle, slightly larger than the average living room, with three lines inside creating a triangle. There was also another smaller circle sitting on the perimeter of the larger one, this one just big enough for someone to stand in the center with their arms extended out. Flat stones with symbols drawn on them sat at regular intervals along the circumference of both circles, with three larger, pointier ones at the places where the tips of the triangle met the circle. “Very good,” Tiernan said, nodding. “Jus’ about perfect, I’d say.”

“Well that’s good to hear,” Stacy said, sounding a bit relieved. She looked up at the sky and yawned, then checked the time on a watch she’d borrowed from Tiernan. “It’s almost twelve-thirty. We should probably hurry.”

“Yea. But first.” Tiernan unzipped the backpack he was carrying, turning it upside down. Four large crystals spilled out and thudded against the floor. “Y’remember what I said ‘bout waitin’ to retrieve the magic until th’last possible moment?”

“Oh yeah.” Jack nodded. “That’s this moment, then?”

Tiernan nodded, picking up a particularly lumpy crystal. “Already did all the smaller ones,” he said, turning the crystal over in his hand. For a moment, it looked like the crystal was lit up from the inside, crimson light flaring. Then it faded, and Tiernan’s eyes started glowing red. He whistled. “Wow. T’at’s a…talk about a rush.” He looked at the other two. “Hey, wait just a moment. Where’s Sam?”

“They’re back in the cabin,” Jack said. “They wanted to rest.” He rolled his eyes affectionately. “Even though they’ve done fuck all actually helping us set everything up.”

“Ah, I see.” Another crystal lit up, then darkened. Tiernan shivered. “Oh _wow.”_

Stacy frowned. “Please tell me you’re not, like…getting high off this.”

Tiernan frowned. “T’at’s not somet’ing t’joke about. Some magicians have done stupid t’ings with crystal storage and retrieval. T’ere’s a division of ABIM dedicated to it.”

“…oh. Sorry.” Stacy mumbled.

“‘t’s fine, ye didn’ know.” One more crystal was drained of the magic stored inside. By this point, Tiernan’s eyes were glowing like flashlights, fireflies of red magic blinking around his hands. “I’ve had a lot o’practice wit’ t’is, but never t’is much at once. It’s…I don’ know how t’describe this. Good _and_ bad.”

Jack raised his eyebrows. “It certainly… _looks_ cool, at least.”

“Aw, really?” Tiernan flashed a smile; his teeth were rimmed with red light. 

“A little demonic, not gonna lie,” Jack added.

“Eh, ‘m used to t’at. Ye can’ pick what color your magic takes.” The last crystal was drained. By now, Tiernan was practically buzzing with magic. He winced a bit. “Okay, at t’is point, holdin’ onto t’is much isn’t exactly pleasant. Let’s hurry t’ings up.”

“Yeah, that’s probably a good idea.” Stacy checked the time on her watch again, then shut off her flashlight. “It’s the middle of the night.”

Jack turned off his flashlight as well—Tiernan was glowing enough to light up everything. “Alright. We’re really doing this, then.”

“Course we are!” Tiernan grinned. “How often d’you get to talk t’spirits two millennia old? You two remember what t’do, right? ‘Specially if I pass out or somet’ing?”

Jack held up a sheet of paper. “Yep. And we can double-check it all right here.”

“Alrigh’. Here we go, t’en.” Tiernan stepped into the smaller circle. “Y’know, people often t’ink necromancy is witchcraft,” he muttered, tugging up the sleeves of his aviator jacket. “But t’at’s not the case. Witches may talk to the dead, but only magic can summon them. It may be because necromancy requires rit’als similar to witchcraft, but the diff’rence is t’at the magic is stored in the person and the symbols channel it, unlike magick where ev’ryt’ing is in the runes.”

“Um…is this important?” Stacy asked, glancing back up at the moon above.

“No, not really. ‘M ramblin’. I do t’at.” Tiernan shook his head. “Anyway.” He brushed his hands against each other, causing streaks of red stars to fly away. The circles on the ground started to glow crimson, the symbols on the stones lighting up. Stacy and Jack instinctively backed up. 

The magician took a deep breath, and started to chant something. Perhaps on its own, it wasn’t too impressive, but his voice layered over itself, harmonizing, different layers repeating different phrases. His eyes lit up entirely red, crimson devouring his iris and pupil, red starting to glow from inside his veins. The triangle drawn on the floor suddenly shot to life, bright red tracing the lines.

“Oh my god!” Stacy gasped, covering her mouth. Jack was at a loss for words. He’d seen many magical things before, but nothing like this. The whole field was lit up by the red glow coming from the ritual, almost as clear as day. And in the center of the circle, it was growing brighter. Shooting stars were trapped in a whirlwind, steadily spinning faster, and faster, their light increasing with every pass around. Jack and Stacy shielded their eyes, then closed them—

And then the supernova burst, fading into a steady glow. After a moment, Jack opened his eyes, then patted Stacy’s shoulder, telling her it was safe to do the same.

There was now…someone…standing in the center of the larger circle. It was hard to make out features, but the figure appeared male. He wore a cape pinned at the right shoulder, a hood covering his head. Underneath the cape was a tunic with elaborate designs woven around the edges. It was difficult to pin down the colors of the clothes, as the figure was wreathed in a red glow. But the glow was…a different type of red than the crimson glow surrounding Tiernan and the circle, a darker berry red that danced like firelight, not starlight.

“Holy shit, it worked…” Jack breathed. He glanced at Stacy, who was equally wide-eyed, and the two of them walked up to the edge of the circle.

Tiernan, hearing them approach, turned to look at them, smiling and bouncing in place. “Look at t’is!”

“Uh…yeah, we sure are looking,” Stacy said, eyes appropriately locked to the figure at the center.

“We better hurry.” Though he sounded excited, there was a bit of strain in Tiernan’s voice. “I don’ know how long I’ll be able t’hold a spirit t’is old here.”

“Oh. Right.” Jack waved on. “Go ahead.”

Tiernan nodded, and turned back to the spirit, starting to speak in a language that sounded almost like Gaelic, but mostly like something else entirely. The spirit seemed to respond, though the other two couldn’t hear any words, and Tiernan nodded again, looking at Jack. “Alrigh’. Step into the communing circle.”

Jack glanced at Stacy, raising an eyebrow. She took a step back. “Don’t look at me. Someone needs to be out here in case you two pass out or something.”

“Fair enough.” Jack shrugged, and stepped over the glowing red line in the ground.

Everything on the other side seemed to fade away, smearing over like he was looking at it through a foggy glass pane. But the spirit in the center was suddenly clear. Slightly transparent and still glowing red, but Jack was able to make out his features. “Jack, t'is is Caedmon Draíocht,” Tiernan said. “Caedmon, t'is is…”

Jack took a moment to reply, stunned by the fact that there was an actual ghost standing in front of him. “Oh. Uh, Jack. Jack William McLoughlin.”

“T’ere we go,” Tiernan said.

The spirit—Caedmon—tilted his head. {What do you require?}

Jack gasped, taking a step back. Tiernan had told him that spirits communicated directly to the mind, to prevent any language barriers, but it still caused an instinctive flinch. “We—we need information,” he said.

{About what?}

Jack glanced over at Tiernan, who smiled and nodded encouragingly. Well, he was the expert in these matters. “Um…” Jack coughed awkwardly. How was he feeling self-conscious talking to a ghost?! “Well, you see…we heard—read that you know—knew a friend of mine. Anti—”

{You feel like him!} Caedmon’s voice held a note of surprised delight. {Yes! He found his perfection!}

“Um…thanks, I guess,” Jack said. “I don’t…what does that mean?”

{A perfect match. The one he was made for,} Caedmon explained. {Eantaí always thought there was someone out there who would be the best connection, though he said I fit well.}

“Uh…”

The light around the circle suddenly dimmed. It flared brighter, but not quite to the level it was before. Tiernan gasped, clutching his chest. “Int’restin’ as t’is information is, we’re short on time. Burnin’ t’rough a lot o’power.”

“Shit. Right, sorry.” Jack hurried ahead. “Anti’s been missing for a while. We think he might be in his home…dimension, I guess. And we want to know how to get there.”

{Ah.} Caedmon’s expression shifted, looking concerned. {There is a spell that could send you there. I only cast it once, and it drained me completely. Are you sure?}

“Oh no,” Tiernan muttered.

“What?” Jack turned to him, confused.

“When spirits ask if you’re sure ‘bout somet’ing, it’s…not a good sign.” Tiernan shuddered. The light from the circle flickered, and for a moment, Caedmon disappeared. “It’s up t’you, Jack,” Tiernan said, voice a bit breathless, the glow from his eyes starting to fade. “Ye want t’hear it?”

Jack hesitated. Was this spell dangerous? It certainly sounded like Tiernan was implying it. Part of him suggested that maybe they didn’t need it, that Anti would turn up eventually. But they’d gone to the trouble of summoning a dead spirit for this information. And Jack still had a bad feeling about Anti’s absence. “Yes, I’m sure,” he said.

Caedmon nodded. {I’ll impart the spell directly to the summoner. Thankfully this won’t take as much preparation as…} He gestured around at the circle. {But it will need power. My child, may I share the spell?}

“What? Oh, t’at’s me.” Tiernan laughed. The circle flashed wildly, and his laughter quickly faded. “Yes. Ye—hurry.”

Caedmon nodded again, and stepped forward. His hand reached forward, pressing against Tiernan’s forehead, transparent flesh sinking slightly through. Tiernan’s eye flared a darker red, then the glow faded completely. “T’ank you,” he whispered. The red light from the circle was rapidly fading now, like the sun going below the horizon. Caedmon’s form faded, flared, then faded. “Fuck,” Tiernan said. “I can’—can’ hold it. Jack…any—a-anyt’ing else?”

“I…guess not,” Jack said slowly. In truth, he had more questions about Anti. But he hadn’t expected the time to be so limited.

Caedmon smiled. {I suggest you be the one to go looking for Eantaí}, he said. {Not only are you connected to him, but I can tell you are linked to other worlds.}

Jack blinked. That just raised more questions.

“Th—can’—” Tiernan gasped. He doubled over, blood starting to leak from his nose. “T’ank you for your assistance, Caedmon. Ye may return to where ye came.”

{Happy to provide,} Caedmon replied. He bowed his head, and faded away.

Tiernan let out a long breath, and in one instant, the light coming from the circle winked out. Jack looked around as the world outside the circle returned to normal—or rather, as the world inside the circle did. Stacy was staring, gaping, looking back and forth between the Jack and Tiernan and the spot where Caedmon’s spirit had been.

“Well…” Jack looked back at her. “Anything bad happen while we were gone?”

Stacy shook her head slowly. “That…wow.”

“Yeah,” Jack agreed. “Though…did it seem short to you?”

“A bit, considering all we did for it,” Stacy agreed.

Tiernan suddenly shot straight up, throwing a hand in the air. “Two thousand years!” He shouted, and then immediately collapsed.

“Fuck—!” Jack lunged forward, barely managing to catch the magician as he fell. He looked back at Stacy with wide eyes.

“He did say this might happen,” Stacy said, though she still looked concerned. “Uh…we should head back to the cabin, then?”

“Probably the best idea.” Jack grunted. “Man, he’s a lot heavier than he looks. Should we be worried about the nosebleed?”

“I don’t know. It’s…probably okay?” Stacy walked over to Jack and grabbed one of Tiernan’s arms, throwing it over her shoulder. “It’s like…magic overexertion, y’know? As long as he doesn’t seem hurt beyond that, I think it’s alright.”

“Let’s just keep an eye on him,” Jack said. “C’mon. Back we go.”

The two of them started walking across the open field back towards the cabin, supporting Tiernan between them. After a while, Stacy asked, “So…what now?”

Jack shrugged. “Well…the whole thing was a bit…rushed, and kinda…stilted? I dunno. I think maybe there’s only so much spirits can do when interacting with, y’know, not-dead people. But he did give us a spell. So I guess we’ll have to wait for Tiernan to wake up and recover enough for it.” He didn’t mention how the spell was potentially dangerous. In fact, probably dangerous.

“Alright. Guess I’ll have to call Matilda and tell her that she needs to keep watching the kids,” Stacy sighed. “I really hope she doesn’t mind.”

“She is getting paid for it, right?”

Stacy laughed. “Of course.”

They arrived back at the cabin, and despite sleep seeming welcoming, the both of them stayed up to make sure nothing happened to Tiernan. A couple hours passed, and with nothing seeming to change, Jack volunteered to stay awake so Stacy could get some sleep. She protested at first, but kept yawning through it, and eventually accepted the offer.

And after a while, of course, Jack realized he needed to sleep as well. The sky was starting to lighten when he retreated to the guest bedroom, muttering a greeting to Sam, who was now awake, before falling into bed and immediately drifting off.

* * *

“Wake up! We have to leave!”

Jackie jolted awake as the lamp beside him was turned on. Groaning, he looked up at Frederick, then over to the window, seeing how it was mostly dark outside. “What…?” he asked.

“We have to leave,” Frederick repeated. “It was Heather’s turn to wait in the lobby, and she says that Jameson and Yvonne checked out. We have to hurry! Who knows where they’re going now?! Get up, get dressed!”

“Get dre—? Oh my god!” Jackie pulled the covers up over his head, suddenly remembering that he wasn’t wearing his shirt or his eye-patch. “I will, just—just don’t look!”

“Jackie, I’ve seen your ch—okay, if you say so.” Frederick backed away, disappearing into the hotel bathroom. “But be quick!”

“I will!” Jackie threw aside the covers and stood up, running over to the corner where he’d dumped his shirt and hoodie the night before. Frederick had dropped him off in the hotel room, putting a magical alert on the door so he’d know if it opened—which Jackie knew was to make sure he didn’t leave the room, not to make sure no one came in—then disappeared. He’d waited, a bit tense, to see if Frederick came back, but when an hour passed and nothing happened, Jackie had realized he might not show up again. Apparently Jackie had been excluded from the discussion of what to do about Jameson and Yvonne. The thought made him squirm with shame. He’d come along to help, and he couldn’t even do that, because Frederick didn’t trust him anymore. Maybe he shouldn’t have gone off last night.

“Okay, all good,” Jackie said, pulling on his hoodie and grabbing his bag.

Frederick reappeared in the main room. “You okay?”

“Uh, yeah, why?”

“I dunno, you just kinda freaked out. Just making sure.”

“Oh. Uh, yeah. I just…never mind.” Jackie looked away. Even though he knew Frederick had seen his scars when he showed up to heal him, there was something different about it outside of that context. It felt a lot more…personal. Which was weird, usually he wasn’t that self-conscious about things like that. But then again, he had new, extensive scars now, and Frederick was…nice. “Uhhh s-so what did you do last night?” Jackie asked. “I didn’t see you come in before I went to sleep. Did you get the, uh, proof you needed?”

Frederick’s expression fell. “No. Heather and I kept trying to look into their window so we could take pictures, but they kept coming out blurry. I wonder if that might be Jameson’s fault. And besides, we realized still pictures wouldn’t do much to convince ABIM that Eve is hypnotized and not doing this herself. Need a video or something.” He pulled his phone out of his pocket, checking the time. “After a bit Heather went to sleep in her room and I decided to stay in the lobby to see if Jameson showed up. Then we switched. And now they’re leaving and we _have to go._ ”

“Well, let’s go, then!” Jackie fumbled about inside his bag and pulled out his eye-patch, putting it on.

The two of them headed down to the lobby and checked out, and soon they were on the road again. Frederick handed his phone to Jackie. “Tell me if Heather texts,” he said. “She went on ahead to follow them again.”

“Alright.” Jackie glanced down at the phone. The lockscreen was a pattern of rings and familiar pixellated characters. “You like Sonic?”

“Yeah.” Frederick glanced over at Jackie. “That surprising?”

“A bit,” Jackie admitted. “You don’t seem like the type to play a lot of games.”

“Well, I grew up with the Adventure games. Then forgot about them for a while, until Yvonne insisted I play them all.” Frederick smiled fondly. “She also really likes the Adventures, but her favorite is Heroes, I think. Anyway, I got into them from there.”

“Dude, Sonic Adventure 2 is my _childhood_ ,” Jackie said, laughing. “I spent so much time on that game. I think I 100% completed it, Chao Garden and all. Your girlfriend has good taste.”

Frederick chuckled. “Well, if you insist. Honestly, the gameplay’s a bit…frustrating, at times. Also, Eve’s not my girlfriend.”

“No, I know that, it’s just, uh, a joke,” Jackie hurried to say. “Probably…not a very good one. Just, uh…shorter than saying…nevermind. You probably have a different girlfriend.” He looked out the window, feeling his face heat up.

They stopped at a red light. Frederick looked over at Jackie, raising an eyebrow and quirking a smile. “I had one girlfriend in fifth year. When she told me she loved me for the first time, I panicked and left the room, went to the bathroom and screamed, then left the whole building via bathroom window.”

“Oh my god,” Jackie whispered. “Oh, that’s such a fucking mood. But you really just had one date your whole life?”

“No, I’ve _dated_ since then.”

“…ah.” Jackie coughed awkwardly. “Uh…the light’s green.”

Frederick turned his attention back to the road. After a moment of silence, he asked, “What about you?”

“About me? I mean—like, dating?” Jackie shrunk down further in his seat, hair falling in his face. “I’ve had lots of partners. I mean, not in like…the last three years, I think. Tried not to get any of them…involved. In the whole…crime-fighting thing.”

There was a small moment of silence. “Oh. Of course.” Frederick’s voice suddenly seemed less warm. “Well, that’s a…good idea. Wouldn’t want anyone to know about that, then?”

“Well, I mean, if I dated someone, they would be in danger,” Jackie explained. Why did he feel so… _bad_ about mentioning his vigilante activities around Frederick?

“No, I know. Makes sense.”

The phone vibrated. Jackie glanced down to see a text appeared on the screen. “Heather says they’re heading out of town, going west on this road called Harrison.”

“Got it.” Frederick turned left. “Where’re they going?” he muttered.

Jackie shrugged. “I dunno. Been a while since I’ve been here, and it’s a big country.”

“Not that big.”

“No. Actually, it’s kinda small, I guess, compared to others. Maybe average size?” Jackie shook his head. “Getting off topic. Anyway, don’t know where they’re going. Maybe Jameson’s been here before, wouldn’t surprise me.”

“Hmm.” Frederick considered this. “Would he be up to no good, you think?”

“Oh, almost definitely. Dude’s a schemer. This is probably part of some greater plot.” Jackie frowned. “I just don’t know what.”

Frederick sighed. “Well, good thing we’re on his tail, then.”

They drove for some time, adjusting course as needed according to instructions from Heather. Soon the urban landscape faded into suburban towns, then countryside occasionally broken up by small rural villages.

They were on the edge of said small rural village when they saw a familiar car on the edge of the road. Frederick frowned. “Did we…catch up with Heather?” He slowly pulled over.

The other car’s window rolled down, and Heather poked her head out. She started talking even before Frederick lowered his window to hear her. “—could be further up, or they could’ve taken a turn at the three-way fork back there. I have no idea.”

“We’ve lost them?” Frederick asked, surprised.

Heather sighed, looking down. “I…I think so.” She fell silent.

Jackie looked around. There really wasn’t much here. “It can’t be that hard to find them, right?” He asked. “We’re in the middle of nowhere.”

Neither Frederick nor Heather responded. Heather kept her eyes down on her lap. Frederick was very still, expression unreadable. Slowly, Jackie’s heart started to sink. Had they come all that way for nothing? Could he…could he really not make up for leaving Yvonne to Jameson’s hypnotism?

“Jackie, hand me my phone again,” Frederick suddenly said.

Jackie jumped, and passed it over to him. He watched as Frederick unlocked it and opened up the phone’s browser. “What’re you doing?” he asked.

“Checking the MRDb for who lives in the area,” Frederick said absentmindedly.

“The…what?” Jackie asked.

“Magician Registry Database.”

Jackie blinked. “So…magicians are online? And also, what’s that?”

“Of course magicians are online,” Heather piped up. “I mean…their websites are _magic,_ so most people can’t access them, but they’re online. There’s no, like, aversion to technology or anyone stopping them from using the Internet.”

“The MRDb is the place where every magician is listed, along with their place of residency and all that other information you’d find in a census,” Frederick explained.

Jackie frowned. “Magicians get…registered? That sounds a bit sketchy.”

Frederick rolled his eyes. “Most governments register their citizens. And it’s not like _anyone_ can access it. Only those with ABIM jobs, and even just specific ABIM jobs. How’re we supposed to send aid to them if we don’t know where they live? Help with magical problems, supplemental income, stuff like that.” He paused, typing something. “Saw the sign for the town back there. I’m trying to see if anyone nearby would be able to help us track them. Maybe someone better at it than me could figure out how to do that.”

“Oh. Uh, makes sense.” Jackie settled against the seat. “I’ll just…be here, then.”

It took a few minutes for Frederick to find what he was looking for, during which Jackie just waited quietly, playing with the ends of his hair. He really hadn’t been able to do much on this trip. All he did was give Frederick the idea. Though, maybe he could’ve done more if he hadn’t lost Frederick’s trust the night before. Which…maybe he lost it for a good reason. Most of the time, when someone spoke up against him for his acts of vigilantism, he thought they were doing it because they just didn’t understand. He just wanted to protect people. But Frederick wanted to protect others too. He tracked down black magic, for god’s sake. And, well…Jackie thought he had good judgement. He seemed like it, at least. So…maybe there was a point, somewhere here?

“Okay, since we’re in the middle of nowhere, as established,” Frederick said, interrupting Jackie’s train of thought, “there aren’t a lot of magicians out here. There’s no one in this town, but there are a few in a close-by one. And one who lives out in the woods.”

“So, which one is most likely to help, then?” Heather asked, leaning out of her car window.

Frederick frowned. “I’m not sure. We need to at least talk to them.”

“Let’s do that, then,” Heather said. “Who’s closest?”

“Uh…” Frederick glanced down at the phone. “They’re all kinda far. What’s closer, the next town or the forest?”

“Isn’t the forest _right there?”_ Jackie asked, pointing out the window at the line of trees. A smaller road branched off the main one, heading around the edge of the woods.

“Yeah, but we’ll have to drive a bit, still,” Frederick said.

Heather started her car again. “I say the woods. Cause then we won’t have to, like, search through an entire town to get to this magician guy.”

“Alright, sounds good, I suppose.” Frederick put his phone away and started his car as well. “I hope they have food, though, it’s almost lunchtime.”

“We can always order pizza,” Jackie said. “We never got to do that yesterday.”

Frederick chuckled.

The two cars headed down the small branch of the road, going as fast as the narrow path would enable. Soon the village had passed out of sight, and they were well and truly surrounded by nothing. About a half an hour later, they passed through a small stand of trees and saw a cabin, out in the middle of a field with a path leading up to it. There were two cars parked nearby. Frederick pulled up next to them, and Heather stopped behind them.

Frederick glanced out the car window as Heather stepped out. Then he looked back at Jackie. “Hey, you wanna walk up and talk to this guy with me?”

“Yeah, sure. Why not?” Just in case this magician turned out to be sketchy, it would be better for two to talk than just one.

Frederick and Jackie climbed out of their car and walked up to the front door, Heather close behind. While Jackie hovered back a few steps and bounced in place, Frederick knocked on the door, the sound of wood on wood different from a regular knock. A few minutes later, the door opened. “Hi, I’m looking for…” Frederick trailed off. “Wait a minute. What?”

The man who opened the door was wearing a black hoodie, his hair brown but holding the fading remnant of green dye. There was also a glowing green eyeball sitting on his shoulder.

Jackie’s eyes widened. “Wh— _Jack?!_ ”

“Do I—wait. Oh, holy shit, Jackie?!” Jack covered his mouth with one hand. “Oh my god, what happened to you?! What happened to your eye?!”

Jackie laughed. “Oh my—it’s a fucking long story, man.”

Frederick looked back at Jackie. “You know this guy? Actually, why am I asking that, you probably do know someone who looks so much like yourse—wait.” He turned back around. “Your name is Jack? And this is Jackie? That can’t just be a coincidence.”

“Actually, it is,” Jackie said.

Heather waved. “Oh hey, I remember you! Didn’t I run into you in the prison a few days ago? What’s with the thing on your shoulder? Is that an eyeball? Aren’t you a YouTuber with an eyeball as a logo?”

“Uh…” Jack took a step back. “What’re you doing here?”

“Well, I’m looking for Tiernan Rua,” Frederick said. “Doesn’t he live here?”

“Yeah, but he’s kinda, uh…” Jack coughed awkwardly. “…unconscious. Right now.”

“Oh.” Frederick blinked. “What happened?”

“He…I think it’s cause he used a lot of magic on a spell? But he’s been unconscious for, like…twelve hours now, so…”

“Oh shit, that must’ve been one hell of a spell,” Frederick said, eyes wide.

Jack sighed. “It was.” He went quiet, eyes landing on Jackie again. Jackie looked away. “Do you three…want to come inside?”

“That would be great, thank you,” Frederick said, trying to sound cheerful. “I’m Frederick Chiu, this is my friend Heather Bell, and you already know Jackie, right?”

“Uh…yeeaahh,” Jack said, glancing back at Jackie one last time. “Anyway, come in. I’ll…be right back.” Jack disappeared further into the house.

The three of them walked into the house, looking around the living room. “Well…that could’ve gone smoother,” Frederick muttered.

“Yeah, Jackie, what’s your deal with him?” Heather asked. “I mean, if you don’t mind. I know that you, like, kidnapped him, but—wait, no. Shit.” Heather hit herself in the forehead. “I legit didn’t mean to say that.”

“I didn’t kidnap him,” Jackie said quietly. “Chase did. With Marvin and Schneep’s help. And then he recruited Jameson to hypnotize him.” He paused, looking over at the other two. “I never wanted any of that, y’know.”

Frederick narrowed his eyes. “But you didn’t do anything.”

“…no.” The word was barely audible. “I didn’t.”

Quietly, Jackie walked over to the nearest sofa, moving a stack of papers in order to make room for him to sit down. Soon, Frederick and Heather started talking to each other, their voices a dull background noise.

Things had just gotten even more complicated.


	40. Crossroads Meeting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack and Jackie's groups meet up, swapping stories about what they've been up to. Jack then proceeds to make a rash decision.

Jack swung the bedroom door open, barging in. “We have a situation.”

Stacy jumped where she was sitting in a desk chair, and put her phone down. Sam hopped off Jack’s shoulder and onto hers. “What’s wrong?” Stacy asked hesitantly.

“Okay. So.” Jack let out a long exhale. “A magician showed up at the door. I have no idea who he is, but guess who’s with him? Fucking Jackie!”

“Wh…the vigilante guy?” Stacy blinked, then looked up at the ceiling, thinking. “I don’t know that much about him, I mean, relatively. Well, Anti did give me a file on him that I read.”

Jack laughed, almost hysterically. “I guess he’s not too bad, relatively speaking. But still.”

“Still,” Stacy agreed. “What…what’s he doing here?”

“Like I said, he’s with this magician guy. And also this other lady—actually, you remember when we—I went to visit Chase and someone ran into me? Same lady. Anyway, Jackie’s with the two of them, and they’re looking for Tiernan.”

Stacy blinked. “A magician?”

“Yeah.”

“How’d you know this guy’s a magician? Was he, like, glowing?”

“I…uh…” Jack actually didn’t know how he knew the man—Frederick—was a magician. He just…knew. “That’s not important. They’re looking for Tiernan. What the fuck do we do?”

“Why are you asking me?!” Stacy glanced over at the bed. Tiernan was lying under the covers, still unconscious from the night before. He was a little pale, but otherwise seemed alright, merely exhausted. “I mean, I don’t know if he’ll be waking up anytime soon. Should we just kick them out?”

“Uhh…” Honestly, he kind of wanted to. What he said earlier was right, Jackie wasn’t the worst person he knew, but given who he’d lived with for two years, that was saying something. Jackie was still dangerous. Though…maybe not to them. Jack’s mind flashed back to when he was staying in Los Angeles, how Jackie had called him in the middle of the night to warn him that the others were trying to find him. He didn’t _have_ to do that. And given how he looked now, with the eye-patch and the…what were they, burn scars? All over half his face. Jack couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. “No, let’s not kick them out. Maybe Tiernan knows this magician guy. Said his name was Frederick.”

Stacy threw her eyebrows up into the air. “That’s not a very magical name.”

Jack laughed. “Yeah, guess you’re right. I mean…it’s basically Fred, isn’t it? God, actually, you’re absolutely right. Fred the magician.” His laughter faded. “I mean…do we just go out and talk to them?”

“I can try to wake him up?” Stacy suggested, looking towards Tiernan. “And you can stall for time?”

“Uhh sure.” Why not? “We’ll just be in the living room, then.” Jack turned to leave, and Sam hopped off Stacy’s shoulder and back onto his. “You just gonna play leapfrog with us, Sam?” Jack asked. Sam flicked their nerve-tail and said that they could if they wanted. “Oh, of course. Not saying you shouldn’t.”

Jack took a deep breath before stepping back into the living room. The magician and the woman—Frederick and Heather—were standing near the front door and talking. Jackie was sitting on the sofa, having cleared a spot of papers in order to do so. Upon noticing Jack walking into the room, Jackie glanced toward him then immediately turned away.

“Okay, so, um…” Jack took a deep breath. “How—how do you three know each other?”

Heather immediately started talking. “Well Fengge and I—”

“That’s me,” Frederick said.

“—know each other cause my sister’s magic, and she was—is his partner. And apparently the two of them helped Jackie out with something, something that kinda resulted in Fengge losing his hand, which sucks, I think it was some kind of magic battle. Anyway a couple days ago I was in Tirion visiting friends and Jackie comes up to me looking like shit and asking for magical help, and I thought, ‘hey, I know a magician!’ So I called Fengge, and he recognized the description and hurried right over to heal him, and Jackie’s been staying with him ever since. We actually came here looking for—”

“He _gets it,_ Heather,” Jackie suddenly snapped.

“Oh, um…okay. Sorry.” Heather folded her arms and looked away.

“Wow. That’s uh…quite a series of events,” Jack said.

“Yeah, it was,” Jackie muttered.

“So what about, uh…” Jack turned to Frederick. “Do you know Tiernan?”

Frederick shrugged. “No, actually. We were in the area and thought he could help us with a tracking spell. Apparently not, if he’s unconscious from overuse.” He sighed, and leaned against the wall, bracing himself with a hand.

Jack’s eyes widened. This guy had a hand made of _wood._ He immediately looked away, not wanting to stare. “Well, uh…yeah. He used a lot of energy last night.” Sam bounced on his shoulder, agreeing. “You weren’t even there, Sam.” They said they could feel it, obviously.

Now it was Frederick’s turn to stare. “What…I’m sorry, but what’s that?”

“Oh, this is Sam,” Jack said. “They’re my little friend. Tiernan didn’t know what to make of them, either, but they are what they are.”

“Didn’t I tell you about Sam?” Jackie asked.

“You _knew_ about this?” Frederick asked Jackie, gaping.

“Yeah, uh…they’ve always sorta been with Jack.” Once again, Jackie glanced in Jack’s direction, then looked away.

“And you talk to them?” Frederick turned back to Jack.

“Yeah. I can hear them, too, they respond in my head. I mean, not like normal telepathy, it’s…different.”

“Huh. Interesting…” Frederick paused. “So…are you a magician? I’m not picking anything up, but I’m not that good at that.”

Jack hesitated for a moment. “No, I don’t have magic.” Of course, he was now starting to realize that there was something strange about him. Maybe it was because of Anti, maybe it was because of Sam, but apparently he had…something. Something he’d never realized before.

An awkward silence fell over the living room. Jack shifted on his feet, waiting for more questions. Jackie avoided looking at anyone. Frederick glanced over at Heather, who was being oddly silent.

“Hello!”

Tiernan popped up behind Jack, causing him to cry out in surprise. Everyone else jumped as well. Stacy rushed in after him. “Hey, look who’s awake!” she said, laughing nervously.

“Ah, ev’ryone’s havin’ a great gas in here! Without me? ‘M a little offended!” Tiernan laughed, and swayed on his feet, leaning into Jack. “She said t’ere was a pair o’magicians in here. Woooow, I only see ‘bout one! I mean I could be missin’ out cause…’m a little tired annnd not sensin’ t’ings correctly.” Tiernan seemed to realize he was making Jack a bit uncomfortable by leaning on him, and abruptly pushed back, stumbling.

“Whoa!” Stacy jumped into action, catching Tiernan before he could fall. She looked around the room with an expression begging for help. “Uh, yeah, he kinda just woke up and when I said there were people, he just…” She gestured vaguely with one hand.

Frederick looked a bit alarmed, but cleared his throat and straightened. “Hello, you’re, uh…Tiernan Rua?”

“Mm-hmm, t’at’s the name!” Tiernan grinned. “Hey, d’y’know t’at Rua means red? It’s prob’ly cause me whole family’s had red magic foreeeever! ‘Parently for at least two thousand years!”

“…I see. Well, I heard you were a historian,” Frederick said. “Um…are you alright?”

“Oh yeah, just grand! Lemme jus’…” Tiernan tried to stand up, pushing away from Stacy. And immediately nearly fell again. Stacy barely caught him in time.

“Is, um…this normal?” Stacy whisper-yelled, glancing at Frederick.

“Well, everyone reacts to magical exhaustion differently,” Frederick said slowly. “Sometimes, when extremely exhausted, people act…strange.”

“I think there are people who act strange when tired who _don’t_ have magic,” Heather added.

“You’re not wrong,” Frederick nodded. “But uh…are you _sure_ you’re okay, Mr. Rua?”

“Jus’ call me Tiernan, ev’ryone does,” Tiernan laughed. “But! Yes! All t’ings considered, ‘m in pretty good shape for drawin’ out all my spare magic and summonin’ a very, veeery old spirit! Two thousand years! An’ I did it!” He tapped the side of his head. “Also got some ol’ dimension hoppin’ spell from him. It’s righ’ up in t’ere.”

“Wait, you did _what?!_ ” Frederick gaped. “I’m sorry for being blunt, but what kind of bizarre-ass situation have we walked into?!”

Jack and Stacy exchanged a look. “It’s a…long story,” he said. “How about…how about we sit down and talk about it?”

* * *

About thirty minutes later, the group was settled in the living room, having moved all the spare papers and books away to make room. Tiernan was lying on the sofa, asleep once again but slightly less pale. Stacy and Jack had taken the available arm chairs and dragged chairs over from the kitchen for Frederick, Heather, and Jackie to sit.

Frederick closed his eyes, and slowly exhaled. Then he looked over at Jackie. “You guys live a _really_ weird life, you know that?”

Jackie had pushed his chair a bit away from the circle. Though he’d been quiet, he smiled a bit at Frederick’s question. “Yeah, I know. But coming from the magician, that really drives it home.”

Jack coughed, then also looked at Jackie. “Sorry about…everything with Marvin,” he said slowly. He glanced at Frederick. “You too.”

“Well…” Frederick ran his fingers over the back of his prosthetic. “It sucks, yeah, but it comes with the territory. Thanks.”

“…yeah. Thanks,” Jackie mumbled. He took a deep breath, then looked back up at Jack. “So…speaking of Marvin, has it…have you thought about how Anti was last seen…um, teleporting away with him? Do you know that if you go to find Anti in this…this pocket dimension thing, that you might find Marvin too?”

Jack sighed. Sam, sitting in his lap, looked up at him, scooting backwards to snuggle against his stomach. “Yeah, that’s part of the reason I’m worried about him in the first place.”

“Alright…so you should, uh…prepare, right?” Jackie said.

Jack frowned. “Uh…”

Stacy sighed gently, looking up at the ceiling. “Jack.”

“It just didn’t occur to me,” Jack muttered, embarrassed.

“Understandable,” Heather said. “But now you know, you can, like, fight this guy.”

“You know, I don’t think that’s such a good idea,” Frederick said, eyes shadowed. “Voids are…strong. If you’re going to prepare for anything, prepare to avoid him. Depending on how big this pocket dimension is, that could be very easy or very difficult.”

“Okay, so, pocket dimensions really are just a thing magicians have to be prepared for, then?” Stacy asked.

“I mean…not normally,” Frederick said. “I’m no expert in them, but I did have to pass a basic knowledge assessment to get into the Magi. Just in case.”

“So are you guys planning on going into this dimension soon?” Heather asked.

Jack shrugged. “I mean…we need Tiernan to wake up…again, I mean. And then recover enough magic to cast the spell.”

“Actually,” Frederick cleared his throat. “I could do it. Then we’d only need Tiernan to wake up long enough to tell me or write down instructions.”

Jackie’s head snapped up. “What?! We’re busy! We have shit we were on our way to do!”

Frederick shrugged. “This won’t take too long.”

“But—”

“But _nothing,_ Jackie,” Frederick suddenly snapped. “My job is to help people, and this is a situation I can help in. You’d know _all_ about that, right?” He looked away.

Jackie opened his mouth to say something else, but soon closed it. He looked down at his lap, twisting his fingers.

After a moment, Heather added quietly, “Besides, Yvonne would do the same.”

Jack glanced between the three of them, then turned to Stacy, who raised her eyebrows. The tension in the new group was almost thick enough to taste in the air. “Well, uh…” Jack said after a while. “I guess we could try to wake up Tiernan. Again.”

“We could,” Stacy agreed. “Though it was kinda difficult.”

“It’ll get easier,” Frederick said. “Coming down from using a lot of magic is difficult, _especially_ when it involves crystal withdrawal. By the way, you’re sure this is the first time he’s done something like that?”

“That’s what he said,” Stacy said. “Why?”

Frederick frowned. “Well, let’s just say crystal storage and withdrawal is an issue all its own. Not really my department. I’ll, uh, talk to him about it later. Let’s just wake him up.”

Jack stood up, dislodging Sam, who glared at him from where they landed on the chair. “Oh come on, it was bound to happen,” he said to them. “Anyway, I’m gonna make coffee. Anyone want any?”

“Me please,” Heather said.

“Got it.” Jack disappeared into the kitchen.

He’d started the coffeemaker, filling the kitchen with its grinding, when he felt he wasn’t alone anymore. Turning around, he saw Jackie standing in the doorway. “Um. Hi,” Jackie said.

Jack blinked. “Hi.”

“I, uh, just wanted to…” Jackie shoved his hands in his hoodie pocket, looking down at the ground. “…apologize.”

“Oh.” That wasn’t exactly what he was expecting. “For what? For the whole kidnapping thing?”

“I wasn’t the one who—” Jackie cut himself off. “Yes. For that.”

Jack didn’t say anything. He leaned back against the kitchen counter, waiting to see if Jackie would continue.

“I mean, I always knew it was a bad thing to…encourage,” Jackie said slowly. “And that, technically, I was just as bad for letting it happen. But it never really…registered, I guess. But…things are happening now. I’ve…been thinking about some things.” He looked down at the ground, kicking at the floor. “And I realized that…that I was making excuses. I shouldn’t have just stood by. And I know I’ve apologized before—”

“No you haven’t,” Jack said.

Jackie looked back up. “What?”

“You never apologized for anything,” Jack said. “Honestly, that was just kind of how you were. Unless it was a minor thing, you don’t…really apologize.”

“I…oh.” Jackie blinked. “Not when I, uh…called you?”

“No.”

“…oh,” Jackie repeated. He shifted his weight, looking a bit lost. “Well…I’m sorry.”

Jack was quiet for a moment. “Apology accepted,” he said after a while. “Don’t do it again.”

“I-I won’t!” Jackie hurried to say.

The coffeemaker let off a loud beeping sound, pouring coffee into the waiting mug. Jack busied himself with resetting the timer and replacing the mug. “So…I’m guessing these two are some of the things you’ve been thinking about?”

“Who? Frederick?”

Jack felt a small smile pull at his mouth. “I was talking about Heather, too, but now I know who you’ve been thinking about more.”

“A-ah.” Jackie’s face grew slowly red. “Well, Heather’s fun, and she’s into crime, which is cool. I kinda vibe with her. But I mean, I’ve just been spending more time with Frederick. He’s uh. Also very cool. Easy to talk to. And very determined, very passionate about his work, and also he, like, really _cares_ about people, which I didn’t think was, uh, real, I guess, and also he’s kinda cu—” Jackie physically jerked to cut himself off, banging against the doorframe. “Ah fuck!”

Jack laughed. “I see.”

“Shut up!” If Jackie’s face was red before, now it was on fire. 

“I thought you liked that cop girl.”

“I did. But uh, it didn’t work out. For obvious reasons.” Jackie pulled up the hood of his hoodie, grabbing the drawstrings and yanking them tight. “Don’t say anything.”

“Hmm well, I guess I could do that, since you apologized and all,” Jack hummed. “While we’re here, you want coffee?”

“Um, sure.”

The two of them walked back into the living room. In the few minutes since they were gone, it seems the other three had been able to wake up Tiernan. He and Frederick were talking intensely. Jack walked on over, handing one of the coffee mugs to Heather, who nodded a “thank you.”

“—kinda complicated t’explain,” Tiernan was saying. “‘T was just…suddenly there. In me head.”

“I guess that makes sense,” Frederick said. “I mean, I’m no expert in mental magic, but it sounds like something that could happen. Anyway, would it be easier to write it down?”

Tiernan nodded, grabbing a spare sheet of paper from a nearby pile. “Hand me a pen? Anyone?” Heather reached into her pocket and leaned across the table to hand Tiernan a ballpoint pen. “T’anks.” He bent over the sheet and started scribbling furiously.

“This is the spell?” Jack asked.

“Mm-hmm,” Tiernan hummed. “Righ’ from the fuckin’…spirit’s mouth. Head. Mind. ‘t woul’ probably help t’have a focus of some kind. A wand. I have a few…somewhere.” He leaned back, pushing the paper towards Frederick. “Now if y’excuse me…’m gonna pass out again.”

Frederick chuckled. “Get your rest. Spells like that take a lot out of you.”

Tiernan nodded, and lay back down on the sofa. He closed his eyes, and was soon fast asleep again.

“And you’re _sure_ this is normal?” Stacy stressed.

“It’s fine,” Frederick said absentmindedly, reading through the spell. His brows slowly lowered. “Okay, so…I did a study in spellmaking. There are certain words in certain magic languages that indicate how much power you’d have to use, and…”

“Let me guess,” Jack muttered, rubbing his temples. “It’s a lot of power.”

“Yeah,” Frederick said. “I mean, I basically have a full tank right now, so I’m not too worried, but—”

“Are you sure we should stay?” Jackie blurted out. “I-I mean, nothing wrong with helping people, but if it’s that much—I mean, what if something happens? If…someone…shows up?”

Jack gave Jackie a puzzled look. The way he said that implied he meant someone specific…but who? Was it any of his business? Apparently the three of them showed up because they needed help with a tracking spell, and Frederick was part of the magic police…could they be looking for someone dangerous?

“No one’s going to show up,” Frederick said. “Why would they show up here?”

“I…don’t know,” Jackie admitted. “But just in case, you know?”

“I think we can take a risk,” Frederick said, turning back to the spell.

“Uh…” Jack looked between Frederick and Jackie. The magician was being a bit cold toward him…maybe they were fighting? Well, he supposed it wasn’t any of his business, really. “So…how soon can you get started?”

“I mean, I guess I can do it now,” Frederick said. “I can read the spell right off the paper. Though I think Tiernan was right, it would be best to do this one with a wand.”

“Wait, really?! Now?” Jack asked.

“Yeah. Why, is that not good?”

“I mean…I guess not,” Jack said slowly. “I did want to do it as soon as possible. It just…caught me off guard, I guess. You don’t need to practice it or anything?”

Frederick scanned the spell again. “This isn’t really the spell for practicing. It’s designed to send one person to this other dimension, and there, uh…isn’t a way to call them back.” He muttered that last part.

“Wait, what?!” Stacy sat up straight. “No! Jack, come on! You can’t just hop into this—this other dimension without a way to get back!”

“Yeah, seems kind of stupid,” Heather agreed. “Cause what if something goes wrong? You’ll be stuck there!”

“Exactly what I was getting at!” Stacy pointed at Heather. “Thank you!”

“Doesn’t seem like the _best_ idea…” Jackie muttered. “Especially since this other dimension could have Marvin in it.”

Jack hesitated. “You’re right. I guess…we need to prepare more.”

Stacy nodded. “Maybe we could wait for Tiernan to wake up again?”

“Maybe.” Jack took a few steps backwards. “Hey, uh, Frederick, if you need a wand for this spell, I think I saw some in the other room. Assuming you can just use any wand, of course, and don’t need like…the hair of a unicorn or anything. I can go show you.”

“That would be great.” Frederick pushed his chair back and stood up, folding the paper into a tiny square and putting it in his pocket.

“Great! Uh, come on, it’s this way.” Jack backed up down the hall, making sure Frederick was following him before turning around.

About halfway down the hall, he felt a familiar weight land on the top of his head. “Hey, Sam,” Jack muttered. Sam said that they knew what he was planning. “Okay. Well, you can’t stop me.” They weren’t going to. They were going to follow him. They hadn’t followed him the last time something bad happened to him, and they’d be damned if they were going to let him disappear again. “Oh wow, swearing. Anyway, glad to have you on board.”

They reached one of the spare rooms that had been converted into storage. Jack flipped on the light, revealing piles of boxes. “There’s, uh, this wooden box over there that has wands in it. I think. Assuming magic wands look like what I think they look like.”

“As long as it’s mostly straight and hard,” Frederick muttered, walking into the room. “Which, incidentally, is what my last b—why’d you shut the door?”

Jack froze, hand on the knob of the now-closed door. “Look, this is the only spell we have to work with,” he said. “We don’t know of any other one that can get into Anti’s home, and frankly, I think we went to enough trouble to get this one. It has to work.”

“…ah.” Frederick folded his arms. “So…you’re not worried about not getting back?”

“There has to be a way to get out from inside,” Jack reasoned. “Either with Anti’s help or on my own.” He straightened, stepping in front of the door. “Look, I’m really fucking worried.”

“About your demon friend.”

“He’s not a demon, but yes. Marvin almost killed him last time they fought. I just…I have to make sure he’s alright. And the way I see it, the longer we wait to do that, the greater the chance that Marvin will _actually_ kill him. Until Tiernan, like, refills on magic, you’re the only person here who can cast that spell, and I’m not stepping aside until you help me.”

Frederick stared at him, then sighed. “God, you and Jackie. Stubborn, chaotic little twinks.”

“Wh—I’m sorry?!” Jack gaped at him.

Frederick laughed. “You should see the look on your face right now. You look like I hit you with a shovel.” He sighed. “Alright, fine, I’ll help you. But _you’re_ accepting the risks here.”

“I am,” Jack said. “It’s absolutely not your fault if something happens to me, and you can tell the others I said not to blame you.”

“Well…alright then. No time like the present.” Frederick walked over to the wooden box Jack had pointed out earlier, opening it up. “Yep, those are some wands, alright. A bit older-looking, of course.” He picked one up, seemingly at random. “Rowan. It’ll match the new hand, so it’s fitting.”

Sam hopped from Jack’s head to hover in front of his face. They asked him if he was sure. “Yes, Sam, I am. You don’t have to come.” They said that yes, they did.

“Okay, so…” Frederick unfolded the paper with the spell. “I’m not sure what it’ll look like when you pop up in this dimension. Apparently Tiernan didn’t get that information from the spirit. So you need to be prepared for literally anything. Like, stretch your imagination on this one.” He paused. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, damn it, I’m sure!” Jack snapped. “I’m doing the whole thing! I’m sneaking behind the back of a good friend to do this! Would I be doing that if I wasn’t sure?!”

“Okay, just checking,” Frederick said, raising his hands. “Sometimes people get cold feet.”

Jack took a deep breath. “Yeah.” Honestly, nerves were starting to eat away at his stomach. Which was part of the reason he wanted to do it _now,_ before they ate away at his entire resolve. “Just do it.”

Frederick nodded. He looked down at the paper, scanning the words. Pointing at Jack with the wand, his eyes started to glow emerald green as he began reading the words.

Green bits of magic circled Jack’s feet like leaves blown by a breeze. Gradually, they grew faster, and faster, until it was a hurricane around his legs. Jack reached up and grabbed Sam, holding them tight to his chest to make sure they didn’t blow away in the magic storm. Blazing magic grew up, and up, reaching his waist, then his ribs, then his shoulders, then covering him completely. Jack squeezed his eyes shut.

The tornado burst outward, sending spears of magic outward. Frederick instinctively ducked, even as the magic quickly faded. He looked at the spot where Jack had been. Now, there were only lingering red shadows.

Footsteps sounded down the hall, and Stacy threw the door to the room open. “What happened?! It sounded like a bomb went off! Wait…” Her eyes scanned the area. “Where’s Jack?”

“Um…” Frederick laughed nervously. “He may have…convinced me to do the spell.”

Stacy blinked. “The spell to send him to another dimension? That we couldn’t get him back from?”

Frederick nodded hesitantly.

“What the actual fuck?!”

* * *

The air was cool. The silence was deep. Jack opened his eyes, and looked up into a crimson sky.


	41. To Those Who Wait

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack and Anti finally see each other again, but there are more problems on the horizon.

The air was cool. The silence was deep. Jack opened his eyes, and looked up into a crimson sky. He looked down, and the ground was made of small chips of metal, like discarded circuit boards. Blocks of metal stuck out of the ground at uneven intervals, forming a circle that he was standing in the exact center of. A quiet hissing sound filled the air. “Well…this definitely worked,” Jack muttered.

Something wiggled in his hands, and he remembered he was holding tight to Sam, pressing them to his chest. “Oh, sorry,” he said, looking down and opening his hands. “You okay?”

Sam swished their nerve-tail, and looked up at him. Their glow was…weaker. That was a bit worrying. But they assured him they were fine.

“Uh…okay,” Jack said slowly. “But if you feel, I dunno, sick or something, just tell me.” He looked back up, staring at their surroundings. Beyond the circle, there was nothing. Just an endless plain of metal chips and a red sky above. “Man, no wonder Anti prefers to spend time in the real world.”

Jack started walking, but after he took just a few steps, the ground started to shake, suddenly and violently. He staggered and looked down at the ground, just in time for the metal chips to start falling, the ground collapsing. There wasn’t even time for a proper scream, just a strangled gasp, and then he was tumbling, sliding down the metal waterfall, until suddenly landing on solid ground and immediately fall to his side. He once again held Sam close to his chest and curled around them to shield them from any stray chips still falling.

“Jesus fucking…” He trailed off into muttering, looking down at Sam again. “You okay?” Sam shook themself, and said they were fine. Jack let out a slow breath. “Okay. Good.”

Slowly, he stood up. He was now standing in…a theatre? Yes, that’s what it appeared to be. Looking out, he saw rows and rows of seats, rising, with dangling globes of red light illuminating them. He himself was standing on a stage, complete with curtains. Strange…why would he have suddenly fallen into a theatre? Actually, upon looking up, he couldn’t see any space to have fallen _from._ Just a bunch of overhead lights and rafters. Weird.

And there was more weird about this theatre, too. The curtains dangling on either side of him were in tatters, looking almost as though they were burned. The stage was made of metal, and pitted with holes. Whole sections of seats looked oddly…melted.

Jack walked over to the edge of the stage and slowly lowered himself to the ground. “Oh, I’m getting a bad feeling about this, Sam,” he muttered, looking closely at one of the melted sections. And that was indeed the best word to describe it, the way the chairs drooped and clumped together. Sam agreed that this was bad news.

Cautiously, Jack walked up the aisle, head darting side to side in case anything happened. Nothing did, but he still felt on edge as he approached a pair of double doors around the edge of the room. “Hang on, Sam,” he muttered, slipping them into his hoodie pocket. They didn’t protest.

The doors swung outwards, revealing more of that crimson sky from before. A path twisted downwards, curling and turning in on itself, a sloping path that rested on nothing. It led down onto what looked like a regular city street, if not for the fact that there were no buildings lining the sides. Jack hesitated before stepping onto the path; it just looked like it was floating. But it did hold his weight. He hurried downward and onto the ground.

Only moments after his shoes hit the pavement, the ground shook.

Jack yelled, but managed to keep his balance. He blinked, and suddenly, there were buildings. It now looked like a regular city, except for the floating path he’d just stepped off that led to an empty double-wide doorway. And except for the red sky and the underlying humming sound. And except for the fact that occasionally the buildings would suddenly start to flicker and glitch crazily. If Jack had any doubt that he’d ended up in Anti’s home world, it quickly vanished.

“Okay, now what?” Jack muttered. He patted his pocket. “Sam? What do you think?”

Sam poked out of the pocket and looked around at the city that had suddenly appeared. They replied that this was all very odd, and honestly it didn’t make them feel too good. They actually felt kinda nauseous.

“What? You’re an eyeball, how can you get nauseous?”

Sam said that they didn’t think they could, until now. But maybe if they followed where these glitches were coming from, they would find Anti?

“That makes sense…” Jack said slowly. He looked more carefully at the glitching buildings. Now that he was paying attention, they did seem to sort of be coming from a direction. It was like a wave of glitches would shake its way down the street. Jack headed in that direction, not noticing how the humming sound was getting louder.

After walking for what felt like a long, long while, Jack stopped. “Wait, Sam, I just realized something. Didn’t we read in the notes—the ones from that spirit, Caedmon—didn’t they say something about time not existing here?” He paused. “Wonder what that meant…”

Sam replied that they didn’t know, but that something felt wrong.

“Wrong?” What do you—” Jack cut himself off. There was something happening…in the distance. He squinted down the street. Something was moving. In fact, a lot of things were moving. Jack’s eyes widened as he realized what he was seeing: the glitches from the buildings were growing in intensity, entire houses shuddering rapidly and multiplying, covered in static. And the glitching was approaching. Quite rapidly. “Fuck—!” Jack turned and bolted.

He wasn’t nearly fast enough. The humming grew louder, turning into electronic screeching that could make anyone’s ears bleed. Soon he was swept off his feet, being thrown around by glitches.

The glitch wave crashed onto the ground. Jack landed hard on his back and stared up into the crimson sky, gasping for breath.

“ _Oh fuck off with that already!_ ”

Jack felt his heart freeze. He recognized that voice.

“ _I get it, you can throw the place around! Now stop hiding behind this fucking fake city and **actually** fight me again!_“

He looked in the direction it was coming from. Some ways down the street, pretty far away but still clearly within earshot, was Marvin. He had his back to Jack, thankfully, but was still easily recognizable, his hair wild and his cape in tatters. Jack slowly sat up, never taking his eyes off the lone Void.

“ _I know you’re heeeere!_ ” Marvin looked from side to side, allowing Jack a glimpse of his purple eyes but luckily not noticing Jack himself. “ _Where are you?_ ”

The static seemed to rise in the air, and it sounded like laughter. And words. “I͏'ve t͏ol͟d ͡yo͢u͝ bef͟ǫr͟e͠,” it said. “I'̕m̨ e͡very͢.͞.̴.wheŗe.” There was the slightest shift in tone in that last word. The barest hint of surprise, as if the voice had just noticed something strange.

Jack stiffened. He knew that voice. But where was it coming from? It certainly _sounded_ like it was coming from everywhere.

Marvin suddenly screamed. “ _That’s! Not! **Funny!**_ ” There was a flash of dark purple, and then a few black orbs dripping with violet spun away from Marvin. Some hit nearby walls and burned into the surface, a few melted deep grooves in the street. Jack ducked as one wild orb flew right over his head.

And then once again, the floor gave out.

Jack cried out, but this fall wasn’t nearly as long. He soon landed on a lumpy, soft surface. Pillows? He didn’t have much time to take note of it, because—

“What are you do̸in͞ģ here?! Wait, how did you even _gȩt_ here?!” Anti appeared in front of him, grabbing him by the shoulders and looking him over. “Are you h͢ųr̡t? Oh fuck, I can’t look over e͟ve̛ry̸t͟hi̸n̕g all the time! Especially not with this crazy bitch here! If something in here got you—”

“Anti, I’m fine.” Jack shrugged off his grip. “I, uh…are _you_ alright?” He did his own once-over of Anti. He seemed alright. But he definitely looked different. His eye-patch was missing, letting his green eye shine, and so was his scarf. The wound on his neck slowly dripped blood. Glitches and static constantly tore across his body, making him seem less solid.

“What? I’m fi̧n̨e͝. Why wouldn’t I be?” Anti looked a bit confused. He glitched, and was suddenly standing.

“I dunno, I just—I got worried!” Jack climbed to his feet. “You disappeared off the face of the earth _three months_ ago! Last I heard, you were fighting someone who almost killed you! So I…I came to check on you. Well, me and Sam.” He patted his pocket. “They’re not feeling too good, though.”

Anti stared at him silently. “You…came to check on me?” He asked in a quiet voice.

“Well…yeah,” Jack said. He looked down at his feet. “I mean…you seem alright, so I guess it was nothing, but still, it’s been a while, so—”

“No, no, I—it’s g̨re͡at,” Anti hurried to say. “But…still, h͞o̡w did you even get here?”

“Uuuuuh…it’s a long story.” Jack laughed a bit. “So me and Stacy went back to the cabin, and there was a, uh, magician guy who lives there now. So we told him all about you, cause he already seemed to know something was up, and he helped us summon this, like, ghost magician guy. And the ghost guy told us how to get here.”

“There’s a necromancer living in the cabin now?” Anti asked.

“Yeah, he’s pretty cool. I mean, kind of nerdy, but you know,” Jack said. “Apparently his ancestor knew you, which is crazy, right? Anyway, that’s who we talked to, the ghost was some magician with red magic, called Caedmon—”

“Y͡ou ta͞lk͠e͏d to Caedmo͝n͢?!” Anti repeated in an utterly shocked tone.

“Yeah. Tiernan—that’s the necromancer—passed out for like twelve hours afterward.”

Anti stared at Jack, eyes wide. Then he laughed. A spasm of glitches ran through his body. “Oh my gods. Jack…you’re…wow.” He calmed down a bit, and his voice softened. “You…really went to all that ef̧for̢t…just to check on me?”

“Course I did,” Jack said. He tried to shrug it off, but just couldn’t. Not when Anti sounded so touched. “I mean…it wasn’t _that_ hard. And you’re…you’re my best friend. I couldn’t just let you possibly die because of this asshole and his stupid Void powers.”

“Oh…” For once, Anti seemed at a loss for words. “Well…thank you.”

Jack nodded. “You’re welcome.” He hesitated. “So…how _are_ you doing? I mean, you said you were fine, but there’s…still a guy out there…who looks pretty pissed…”

Anti laughed. “Marvin? He has _n͟o̧th̴in̶̢g̸_ on me h̴er͞ę.” He paused. “Well, no, not nothing. He’s fucking resilient. And quick. I can’t pin him down long enough to try my plan. You said it’s been three months in the other world?” Anti rolled his eyes. “Well, certainly fucking f̶eel̷s like we’ve been fighting for that long.”

“Huh.” Jack hesitated. “Is…is there any way I can help? I mean, I’m already here. Might as well.”

“Hmm…” Anti flickered with static as he thought. “Maybe…if you could distract him, I might be able to get close enough to—only if you’re sure, of course. I’ve tried distractions before, but he’s dead-set on fighting _me._ But if it was y̷ou̸ as the diversion…”

Jack hesitated. He didn’t really want to face Marvin. But…if this plan of Anti’s went well, then they’d never have to deal with Marvin again. “Alright, I think I can do that.”

Anti grinned. “Ver̵y̕ gǫo̵d. Now, let’s be quick. Eventually Marvin’s going to be over his outburst. This is what I’m thinking…”

* * *

The makeshift city was silent, except for the strange humming that was ever-present in the air. The buildings were slowly losing their detail, becoming mere black shapes with a white glow where windows and doors were supposed to be. Marvin stalked through the streets, not caring to notice the changes. Anti _had_ to be here somewhere. He’d stopped with the weird glitch waves, which probably meant he was preparing something else. And if he was busy preparing, then he would be vulnerable.

There was a door up ahead that hadn’t yet lost its definition. Marvin shot a bolt of black violet towards it. The bolt hissed as it made contact, blasting pieces of the door away and melting what remained into a puddle. Behind the empty doorway, Marvin caught a glimpse of something moving. No, some _one._

Marvin laughed. “ _I seeeee you!_ ” He rushed forward into the building, eyes lighting up bright violet as they dripped black liquid. Splashes of black and purple danced around his hands.

The inside of the building was barren, the walls, floor, and ceiling made of a smooth black material. Red light came from bulbs mounted in the ceiling. There was a single door in the wall, made of metal. Someone was trying to pull it open. Marvin’s eyes immediately locked onto him. “ _Aaaanti, are you running?_ ”

The person at the door jumped, looking over his shoulder. He managed to get the door open and disappeared inside.

“ _Wait a second…_ ” This was different. Marvin realized, and he laughed. Anti wouldn’t run. He hadn’t ever run before, not the whole time Marvin had been stuck in this weird other dimension. Retreated, yes. But this wasn’t that. Because this wasn’t Anti. “ _Jack! How did you get here? Checking in on your glitchy friend, I bet. Where are you going? Come back!_ ”

The door was starting to swing shut, but Marvin caught it, swinging it open with force that it slammed against the other wall. The other side was a long room, walls similarly made of black. It was probably meant to be a hallway, but it was void of any distinguishing features. Marvin glanced down at the other end. There was a staircase, barely distinguishable against the rest of the black room. Jack ran towards it, heading upward. Marvin grinned. “ _Stop running! I just want to talk! I just want to taaaalk!_ ” He ran after him, heading up the stairs. Yet strangely, it felt like he was heading downward.

The staircase emerged from…a hole in the ground? That was what it looked like, at least. The ground was made of dirt, and the ceiling of the next room up was supported by rafters one might find in a basement. Bare bulbs dangled from chains, lighting up the small room. There were no doors or windows leading out. Jack was pressed against the opposite wall, hands running over the smooth surface. Upon hearing Marvin, he spun around, eyes wide. “No!” He pressed his back against the wall.

Marvin grinned wildly. “ _Hello Jack. How long’s it been? Feels like forever. I can’t keep track of the time in a place like this._ ”

“H-hey…back off!” Jack stammered. 

“ _Why should I?_ ” Marvin laughed, and started approaching. “ _Are you going to stop me? Couldn’t do much **last time,** could you?_”

Jack flinched. He pressed closer against the wall—and suddenly it spun around. Like an entrance to a secret passage in an old movie, the wall rotated on an axis, and suddenly Jack was gone. Something clicked.

“ _ **What?!**_ ” Marvin ran forward, pounding against the wall. “ _Fuck this! Fuck this whole world and its fucking traps and illusions and **nothing making sense!**_ ” He screamed in frustration, and hurled a blast of dark violet at the wall. The magic slid right off the black material it was made of. “ _Oh, of fucking **course** you’ve figured out some **fucking** way to make it resistant to my magic! Well fuck you! You don’t know the spells I have!_” 

Marvin stepped back against the opposite wall. He raised his hands above his head and closed his eyes. Violet magic began to gather, droplets clustering together and running down his arms, becoming a sphere of running purple magic that was black at its center. Marvin shouted, and threw his arms down. The sphere flew across the room at the opposite wall, gaining size as it went. It was almost the size of a person by the time it slammed against the wall, spattering everywhere in a bright violet explosion.

As the magic faded away, Marvin walked up to the wall again. It still looked mostly solid, just with a few dents. Except for near the bottom. It appeared the spell had been concentrated there. A small hole had been blasted through the thick material, smoking at the edges. Much too small for a person to get through, but maybe big enough for something else.

Marvin hesitated for a moment. Was this really worth it? He quickly decided that it was. Jack had somehow slipped away last time he tried to grab him, he wouldn’t let him do so again. Besides, if Jack got in here, maybe he knew a way out. So Marvin took a deep breath, and cast a spell.

Soon, a cat slipped through the hole in the bottom of the wall. A black longhair cat with four white spots on its forehead, its eyes glowing purple. The room beyond was dark, but the cat could see easily. It was a small area, about the size of a closet, and packed with pipes winding around the room, filling the little empty space there was. Jack was huddled in the corner. It wasn’t clear how he’d gotten through all the pipes, but given how this world could change at the flip of a dime, Marvin assumed the pipes had suddenly appeared.

The cat flattened his ears against his head, and started navigating through the pipes, easily squeezing through the small spaces left. What was he going to do once he got close enough? There wasn’t enough room to turn back to human form, and he couldn’t cast most spells in an animal form. But perhaps that had changed, now that he had all this new power. Yes, that made sense. Why would he be limited by shape now? Limits were a thing of the past. He started getting ready for a teleportation spell.

The air in the room started humming, vibrating with a low current of electricity.

Jack looked up, noticing the glowing purple eyes that were getting closer. “Wait, Marvin, let’s talk about this!” He said in a hushed yell.

Marvin purred, amused. Silly Jack. He can’t talk in animal form. He kept getting closer, climbing through a particularly tight gap in the pipes. All he needed was to get close enough to teleport the two of them away.

The electricity increased, causing the fur along Marvin’s tail to stand up. He didn’t notice.

“No no no, wait!” Jack tried to back up, hitting the corner. “Look, I can—I can get you out of here!”

Yes, that was the plan. Marvin lunged through one last hole in the pipes, landing on Jack’s lap. Immediately, he tried to activate the teleportation.

Instead, a strong electric shock ran through his body.

Marvin yowled, jumping backwards—right into a waiting pair of arms. He hissed, claws shooting out as he looked up, right into a glowing green eye.

“He̸͟ļl͏͠o,” Anti grinned.

Green lightning shot through the air. Anti dissolved into shadows and static, yet still held tight to Marvin as he clawed and squirmed. The air was filled with electronic screeching. Jack clamped his hands over his ears. Flashes of green and purple light burst with a _snap!_ and so he closed his eyes too.

All of a sudden, the screeching and flashing stopped. And there was laughter. “You can look n̡o̷w, Jack.”

Jack opened his eyes. Except the room was completely dark. “Uh…no I can’t.”

“What? Oh. Hang on.” The humming sound returned. Suddenly, the room fell apart, opening up like a paper diorama turning back into the two-dimensional plan it was made of. The walls hit the ground silently, seamlessly merging into a plane of blackness, lit up by scarlet light pouring from the sky. Anti grinned. “Here we are.” He chuckled. “Lo̢o͡k a͏t̵ th̛is͏.”

There was a black cat, four white dots on its forehead, lying on the floor. It slowly stood up, shaking its head and looking around. Its eyes were green.

Jack stared, still a little wary. The cat looked up at him and hissed. There was a moment of silence. Then the cat looked back down, turning its head side to side and walking in circles. It seemed confused.

“So it worked then?” Jack asked. “You took his magic?”

“No, I didn’t _t̢a͝ke_ his magic,” Anti said. “Gods, how fucked up would that be? I just locked it away so he can’t use it.”

Jack nodded. “So now he can’t turn back.”

“Exactly̧.͡”

The cat’s—Marvin’s—eyes suddenly widened, almost comically. He let out a loud scream, and turned around and started attacking Anti’s leg. Anti looked unconcerned with this, and merely bent over to pick him up, ignoring the way Marvin struggled and tried to climb out of his arms.

Jack couldn’t help but chuckle. “And we’re _sure_ this was the best idea?”

Anti nodded. “According to Dark, the options were to kill him or somehow keep him from using magic. Dark might’ve been fine with the former, but it’s always a last resort.” He paused, expression falling. “If we’d kept fighting…”

The unfinished sentence lingered in the air.

Anti shook his head and continued. “And if we left him as a human, he would just find some ǫt͠he͞r way to cause trouble, maybe even unlock his magic again.” He looked down at the squirming cat clawing at his arm. “Wo̢u̢l̷dn’t y͢ou?”

Marvin snarled.

Jack nodded slowly. He would be lying if he said he wasn’t glad that Marvin wasn’t able to cause trouble anymore. He just wanted to make sure that they’d made the right choice.

Something squirmed in his pocket, and Sam poked out. They said that this was all well and good, but they were feeling very…bad. Could they please leave this place?

“Oh shit. Yeah, of course.” Jack pulled Sam out, looking them over. Their glow was barely visible. “Anti, we have to get out of here. Sam’s not feeling too good.”

Anti nodded. “Of course.” He bent over. Suddenly, there was a cat carrier sitting on the ground. Anti dumped Marvin through the hole in the top, quickly zipping it up as the cat tried to inch his way out. “We’re bringing this a̷ssho̷l̵e̶,” he muttered. “I’m sick of having him running around here.”

“Understandable, have a nice day,” Jack said.

Anti chuckled tiredly. “Okay, so where did you come into here from? You were in the old cabin?”

“Yeah, in the room off the left hallway. It’s a storage now, for magic shit.”

“Nice.” Anti considered this. “I think I can aim for there.” He reached to the side, and his scarf, his patch, and a roll of bandages suddenly appeared in his hand. “Don’t wanna freak out anyone there,” he explained, wrapping up his neck. “Can you grab the bitch kitty?”

Marvin hissed, and rammed against the side of the cat carrier.

“Got it,” Jack said, picking up the handles of the carrier. “Let’s go. I’m sure the others are worried.”

* * *

Footsteps sounded down the hall, and Stacy threw the door to the room open. “What happened?! It sounded like a bomb went off! Wait…” Her eyes scanned the area. “Where’s Jack?”

“Um…” Frederick laughed nervously. “He may have…convinced me to do the spell.”

Stacy blinked. “The spell to send him to another dimension? That we couldn’t get him back from?”

Frederick nodded hesitantly.

“What the actual fuck?!”

Everything seemed to freeze for a moment, as if someone pressed pause on real life. All of a sudden, static built up in the corner, the world stuttering. And in an instant—

“Shit!” Jack stumbled as he partially landed on a pile of boxes, which then clattered to the floor. Marvin yowled as he dropped the carrier. Anti, standing next to Jack, helped steady him. Sam wriggled out of Jack’s pocket and flew up, stuttering a bit in flight until they landed in a nearby box. They stopped moving. It was clear they were ready for a long rest.

Stacy’s head snapped toward the corner. She blinked. “…well. I guess he _can_ come back.” She took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. “Hey Jack?”

“Hi Stace,” Jack said, waving.

“What were you thinking?!” Stacy shouted. “You can’t just jump into another dimension!”

“Hey, it worked out!” Jack flashed a smile. “Look, Anti’s here! He’s okay. We even, uh…dealt with the problem. Sorry to worry you. We must’ve been gone a while.”

Frederick, previously gaping blatantly at Anti and the way he glitched, looked over at Jack. “Um…actually, that was about twenty seconds. At most.”

“Wait, what?” Jack asked, confused.

“Time is inconsistent between here and there,” Anti explained idly, looking over Frederick. “So. Are you the magician who lives here now?”

“Me? No, I just stopped by,” Frederick said. “Tiernan lives here, he’s still asleep. I’m Frederick. And you’re Anti?”

Anti nodded. “So you sent Jack to find me.”

“…yes?” Frederick said slowly.

“Well. Thank you,” Anti said shortly. “Hello again, Stacy.”

“Hi, Anti,” Stacy said. “You’re, uh. Alright. That’s good to know.”

Anti didn’t answer, looking around the room. “This place sure has changed,” he muttered.

“Oh boy, you haven’t even seen the rest of the house yet,” Jack chuckled. “C’mon, let’s not stand around in a storage room where we could easily knock over more boxes.”

Back in the living room, Tiernan was still napping on the sofa, and Jackie and Heather were talking quietly. Heather glanced over as the group reentered the room. “Oh hey! What happened?” she asked. “Wait, who’s the new guy? A second Jack? Or maybe a second Jackie, given the eye-patch, haha. Wait, no. I’m an idiot. You’re Anti, aren’t you?”

“An—!” Jackie turned around with so much force that he almost fell off the chair. “Fuck!” He suddenly clutched his side and hissed. “Stupid fucking…” The phrase trailed off as he looked back up at Anti, face wary.

Anti stared at Jackie coldly. “Jack failed to mention _you_ were here.”

“Sorry,” Jack said. “But, uh, it’s fine, he’s…cool.” Jackie flinched a bit at the slight hesitation before the word.

The cat carrier suddenly jolted. Marvin meowed, clawing at the mesh sides, and gave Jackie a look that screamed _let me out so I can claw out your other eye_.

Jackie stared at it, then suddenly shot to his feet. “Wait a second! I recognize—you—Marvin—!”

“Oh yeah, we turned Marvin into a cat,” Jack said, holding tight to the carrier handles.

Frederick whipped over to look at him. “You did _what?!_ ”

“We did not turn him into a cat!” Anti corrected hurriedly. “He turned himself into a cat, then I sealed his magic.”

“You can’t just _leave_ someone as an animal!” Frederick protested.

“Look pretty boy, do _you_ want the Void who burned your hand off running around?!” Anti yelled. “No? I didn’t think so!”

“Wait…” Frederick took a step back. “How do you know Marvin did that?”

“I recognize you,” Anti said, looking Frederick over. “It took me a moment, but I do. I dropped you off at that ABIM hospital. Tricky business, making sure no one saw me, and it could’ve easily ended badly. But it seems it was worth it, since you sent Jack to my home.”

Frederick stared at Anti. “You…did that?”

“Yes, I did. Please keep up.” Anti folded his arms. “I had to take my eyes off the Void to do so, too, who knows what could’ve happened in that time?”

“…oh. Well.” Frederick coughed. “Thank you. They said I would’ve died. If you…if you ever need anything—”

“No, you don’t owe me something,” Anti interrupted. “I didn’t do it in the hopes of getting a favor someday.”

Frederick let out a small breath and smiled. “If you insist.”

Jackie had an odd expression on his face. Without another word, he pushed past the rest of the group, muttering something about needing air. He then headed into the hallway. Frederick stared after him, concerned, and followed.

Jack set the cat carrier on the coffee table. Heather scooted her chair closer, staring at Marvin inside. “Y’know, he’s kind of cute, for an evil magician.”

“Clearly it’s a trick,” Stacy drawled. “Get you to lower your guard.” She glared at Marvin. “So that he can get inside a diner and fight a glitch right in front of you.”

“Huh. That’s an oddly specific example,” Heather said.

“Never mind,” Stacy chuckled. “It’s a long story.”

* * *

Jackie leaned against the wall, feeling a bit dizzy. Everything was happening so fast. In just this day alone, he’d followed Jameson around Ireland, met up with Jack again, and now Anti and Marvin were here. After three months of being on his own, he was meeting up with everyone from his past in such a short time period…and they all hated him.

But wasn’t that justified? Well, for Jack and Anti, at least. He’d stood by while Jack had been hypnotized, traumatized, for two years. And in that same time period, he’d fought Anti countless times for the crime of just trying to get his friend back and stop the actual criminals in the city…criminals that included Jackie himself.

Of course, Marvin was just an asshole who’d always hated him. But…he’d hated Jackie because Jackie was a do-gooder, right? Who kept getting in his way. And who…kept lying about being a do-gooder…even to himself…when he clearly wasn’t…

Jackie felt hot tears start to gather in his eye. He quickly wiped them away before they could even fall.

“Jackie?”

“Wh—” Jackie spun around. Frederick was in the hallway. “H-hey,” he mumbled. “I’m fine, I just…needed a moment.”

Frederick frowned. “No, you’re not fine.”

Jackie didn’t answer.

“Hey.” Frederick walked up to him. “What’s wrong?”

A lot. A lot was wrong. He felt like he was spiraling out of control, down a pit in his own mind as the foundations he’d built his life on spun out from under him. He was starting to realize he…he didn’t save people. Though he claimed he did, it was a lie. He was now seeing people who _really_ helped others, and interacting with the people he’d wronged and hurt, directly and indirectly. And then Anti…he’d never liked Anti, but here he was, having apparently saved someone’s life for no reason other than it was the right thing to do, even putting his own plan in trouble to do so. Jackie never would’ve done that. “I…” he started to say, choking on the words. “I think I might be a bad person.”

Frederick fell silent for a while. “You’ve made some bad choices,” he said in a soft voice. “You know this now. So…what are you going to do about it?”

Jackie jolted, looking up at Frederick. He wasn’t expecting that. He’d been expecting—seeking—reassurance, but not…that. It…it stung a bit. But…

_‘What are you going to do about it?’_

Reassurance would’ve done nothing. It wouldn’t have rang true, anyway. But…he could do something about it. He could _do_ something about this realization. Perhaps…now that he’d faced the truth…he could find some way to change.

From the living room, someone shouted.

Frederick’s head snapped back towards the sound. “Heather?!” He looked back at Jackie, and the two of them ran back to the other room.

Heather, Stacy, Jack, and Anti had gathered around the living room window. Upon hearing the others return, Heather looked back over at them. “I-I saw—I saw Yvonne!”

“What?!” Frederick rushed over, pressing against the window with the others. Jackie followed more slowly. Outside looked mostly the same. Except for a few wisps of blue light dancing in the breeze. “That’s her magic,” Frederick recognized. “She’s here!”

“What? Why is she here?” Jackie asked. “Does that mean—”

Heather pushed through the group and ran out the front door.

“Heather! Wait! Shit!” Frederick looked at the others. “If Yvonne is still hypnotized, who knows how she’ll react to seeing her? She could attack!” And without another word, Frederick followed Heather in running outside.

“Who’s this Yvonne?” Anti asked.

“She’s a magician,” Jackie explained. “Heather’s sister, and Frederick’s partner.” He hesitated. “Jameson got to her.”

“Fuck,” Anti cursed, jittering with glitches. “If he got to her, and she’s here, then he’s not far away.” He backed away from the window. “I have to find him.” And he glitched away.

Jack also backed away from the window, dread pooling in his stomach. “Jameson is…here?”

Jackie glanced over at him. “I…Don’t worry, Jack, I’ll go look for him, too.” He took a deep breath, and headed out the front door.

Stacy remained looking out the window. If she pressed her face to the glass and looked to the side, she could barely make out flashes of emerald and sky blue light. She glanced back at Jack. “Should we go help?”

Jack shook his head. “No, I-I don’t think we should. And I…don’t…want to.” He took a deep, shuddering breath. “We’ll stay here and make sure Marvin doesn’t get into trouble.

Back on the coffee table, Marvin stopped his efforts to shove the cat carrier onto its side. He meowed, somehow sounding like a spoiled kid caught in the act of stealing from the snack jar.

“Good idea,” Stacy said.

* * *

Anti zipped around the edge of the clearing in energy form. Jameson, where was Jameson? There was a strange car on the road, partly hidden in the trees. That must be how he and the magician got here.

Speaking of the magician, it seems there was a magician’s duel brewing. Yvonne, hair faded and eyes clouded, was hurling blasts of blue magic at Frederick, who conjured a shield just in time to cover himself and Heather. He sent a rope of green magic around it, wrapping around Yvonne’s waist. She sheared it off, and sent a blue breeze at Frederick’s unprotected legs, knocking him over. Heather ran forward, shouting something, tears in her eyes. Yvonne paused for the slightest moment, then sent a blast at her. It was quickly diverted by a shoot of magic from Frederick.

Jackie was outside, too, heading in the fight’s direction but staying at a safe distance. He scanned the nearby area, perhaps assuming that Jameson would be nearby.

Which he should be, shouldn’t he? He wouldn’t leave his puppet behind. After all, he hated to lose him.

Anti continued his search. Jameson couldn’t be too far.

* * *

Jack sighed, and took a seat in one of the armchairs. He glanced at the sofa. “Man…Tiernan’s a really heavy sleeper, huh?”

“He’s been exhausted,” Stacy said, shrugging from her position near the window.

“Still, didn’t he wake up for a bit?”

“Yeah, and sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night because I hear a noise or something. Then I fall back asleep, especially if I had a long day.”

Jack nodded. “That makes sense.” He sighed. “Maybe we _should_ go help—”

{/\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\\}

Stacy collapsed to the floor, landing hard on her side. Jack instinctively tensed, but the gesture was useless, as he slumped back against the chair, unable to move. But his heart was racing. This had happened before. This had happened before. This had—

Footsteps sounded down the hall. Jameson entered the room, looking as proper as ever, watch clutched in his hand. His gaze swept the area. {Well. Isn’t this an interesting sight? It’s been a while, you two, hasn’t it?}

Jack’s eyes locked onto him. His instincts screamed at him to run, but his muscles wouldn’t move. Not again not again not again not—

{I’d love to stay and chat, but I’m not sure how long my distraction will last.} Jameson smiled, returning Jack’s gaze. {Perhaps we could catch up another time. You and I could have a talk.} He looked away, and turned his attention to the cat carrier on the table. Quietly, he walked over to it and leaned over, looking inside.

Marvin backed up, hissing. He turned and once again tried to knock over the carrier, but Jameson reached out and grabbed the handles, righting it at the last moment.

Jack wanted to scream. He wanted to yell for the others to come back, or even to ask what Jameson wanted. But it was impossible.

Jameson tipped his hat. {Until we meet again, farewell.} And, whistling a jaunty tune under his breath, he turned and left the way he came.

Silence filled the house.

Two minutes passed.

Five.

Ten.

Fifteen.

Jack counted them on the clock mounted on the wall, glancing at it every so often. The hands on its face moved steadily, ticking softly. The sound sent panic through his veins.

The front door slammed open. Frederick and Heather stumbled inside, Yvonne draped between them, not unconscious but seeming unresponsive. Her eyes were no longer cloudy. Jackie followed shortly after. “Hey, so we—” Frederick started to say. Then he stopped. “What happened here?!”

Jackie looked at Stacy, who was unmoving on the floor, and Jack, whose eyes darted back and forth. “Jameson was here,” Jackie muttered. “He did this. Wait a moment.” He looked at the coffee table. “Where’s Marvin?!”

The air broke. Anti appeared. “I couldn’t find—” He then looked around the scene, and his expression darkened as he quickly came to the same conclusion as Jackie. “How?! I was looking all over! Constantly!”

“I don’t know!” Jackie said. “But he took Marvin!”

“So he did,” Anti growled. He glitched over to Jack’s side. “I think I can get rid of this. Give me a moment.” After hesitating for a second, Anti’s hand turned into pixels, and he reached into the side of Jack’s head. Jack immediately shuddered, then jerked and bolted upright. “Jack, are you alright?”

Jack didn’t answer, leaning over the arm of the chair and shivering. He held up his hand, asking for a moment. Anti nodded, and glitched over to Stacy, doing the same thing.

Stacy sat up. “Oh god…that was…” She shook her head.

“It was a trap…” Heather muttered. “We got Yvonne back, but…that magician cat…”

“He’s gone,” Frederick finished grimly. “He probably can’t do much while his magic is locked—and he’s, you know, a cat—but that Jameson guy…he probably has a plan.”

“He definitely has a plan,” Anti confirmed. “That’s the kind of person he is. A little schemer.”

“Fuck him!” Jack suddenly shouted. He pounded his fist against the arm of the chair. “Fuck! Him! I hate him! He should just go off and—and—” The words dried up in his throat, and he blinked back tears. He buried his face in the back of the chair.

Anti looked at him and walked over, sitting on the chair’s arm. He put his hand on Jack’s back, leaning closer. “We’ll get rid of him,” he said in a voice low enough for only Jack to hear. “It’s going to be okay.”

“Well…I guess we can’t do anything right now,” Frederick said slowly.

Jackie nodded. “I guess we just…make sure Yvonne is alright, and…and then we can look at what to do next.”

“Yeah…yeah, that’s a good plan,” Heather said. “Fengge, you and I should find Yvonne somewhere to rest, since Tiernan took the couch.”

“There’s a bedroom that way,” Stacy said, pointing down the hall. “Actually, I’ll show you.” She climbed to her feet and headed out, Frederick and Heather following her.

Jackie glanced over at Anti and Jack, then silently also left, heading in the opposite direction the others went. “I…I’m going to…think,” he mumbled.

Soon after the others were gone, Jack took a deep breath, and straightened. “Thanks,” he said, not sure what he was saying thanks for. He fell silent, staring out the living room window. “Anti…” he said slowly. “What did you mean by…get rid of him?”

Anti didn’t answer for a bit. “Jameson is a bit more complicated than Marvin is,” he said quietly. “There are questions there that…I still don’t know the answer to.” He paused, and looked back at Jack. “But he won’t hurt you again.”

Jack nodded. “That…that would be ideal.” He chuckled a bit.

Anti grinned, and started to laugh too. “It would, wouldn’t it?” The smile faded. “Well…we’ll find a way. It’s going to be alright. I promise.”

Jack sighed, and said nothing. The two of them stared out the window and let the time pass.


	42. Changing Times

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jameson tells Marvin what he's planning to do next, though they have to make a slight detour first. Everyone else gets settled down after the wild events of the last few days.

The sun was starting to set in the distance, easily seen through the windows on the west side of the house. Staring through the glass, Jameson reflected that sunsets never really got any less beautiful. A few moments later, he sighed gently, and looked away. Now was not the time to admire a sunset. Mainly because he could hear something clattering behind him.

Turning around, he looked around the living room, eyes landing on one of the bookshelves. A fluffy, mostly-black (except for four white spots on its forehead) cat was busy knocking books to the floor with an extended paw. {Is this really necessary?} he asked.

The cat hissed at him, and swiped another volume off the shelf. Jameson huffed, and walked closer, reaching up and grabbing the cat. It immediately started yowling and clawing at his hands. He winced, but kept his grip, and walked over to a laundry basket nearby to drop it inside. It glared at him with narrowed green eyes. {Marvin, really,} Jameson said. {I know you don’t want to see me, but that’s no reason to go knocking things over. It doesn’t help anything and just breaks things.}

Marvin hissed again. Clearly, ‘breaking things’ was the point.

Jameson sighed, and turned away, collapsing on the nearby sofa. He hadn’t expected to ever use this particular safe house again, but here he was. It was dusty after years of disuse and there wasn’t anything in the fridge or cupboards, but a preliminary cleaning and a quick trip to the small supermarket in town had fixed that. And now, he was tired. He’d been travelling for a few days with that magician, Yvonne, and he just wanted some rest. But that was impossible with Marvin currently climbing out of the laundry basket and deliberately scratching up the upholstery. He watched him bleakly. {You could at least say thank you for getting you out of there. Well, not say, but indicate it.}

Marvin glared at him, ears flat.

{Right, I suppose you don’t have to,} Jameson said, looking away. {I’m sorry.}

With a flick of his tail, Marvin jumped up onto the seat of an armchair and curled up, facing away from Jameson. He sighed. That was to be expected, honestly. Marvin was clearly still mad at him, and who could blame him for it? Jameson had betrayed him; he wouldn’t want to be friendly to a traitor either.

For a moment, he debated looking into Marvin’s mind. Though Marvin was stuck in a cat form for now, his mind was still human, and capable of sending messages. Not that animal minds couldn’t be understood through telepathy, it was just a bit different. It was like comparing a written letter to an abstract poem. One which stated what it wanted and you could understand clearly, and one which relied more on emotion and you had to put more effort into interpreting. But the point was, Marvin’s mind was the former, and if he wanted, Jameson could easily understand what he wanted. But he dismissed the thought. Doing this would almost certainly ruin Marvin’s trust in him. Though thinking about the difference between human and animal minds reminded him of something…

He leaned forward. {Alright Marvin. You are probably wondering what I’m planning to do with you now.}

Marvin glanced over at him, flicking his ears.

{Well, it’s simple,} Jameson said. {I’m going to help you unlock your magic again.}

That certainly got Marvin’s attention. He sat up, patting the chair with his paws for a moment and then tilting his head as if to ask ‘why?’

{Well… I suppose it’s the least I could do.} Jameson looked down at his hands. {After all, I’m partially responsible for this mess. And besides, you can’t stay a cat forever.} He looked up again. {You remember the consequences of that, right?}

Marvin shifted uneasily, his small cat features looking troubled in an oddly human way.

{You don’t…you don’t ever have to talk to me again after all this,} Jameson said softly. {You can leave forever. But you have to work with me for a while, until this is fixed. I can’t find a way to undo this if I’m constantly distracted by you fighting against me.}

Silence for a moment. Marvin was still. Then he nodded, again oddly human, and settled down into a loaf position. 

Jameson let out a long breath. {Alright. Good. That’s sorted.} He leaned forward, setting his head in his hands. {Now the problem is finding someone who could do this. I’m no expert in locking magic—}

Marvin let out a long mrow that Jameson could just tell meant “No, _really? You,_ the _brilliant_ and _long-lived_ Jameson Jackson?” 

{It’s amazing how much better you are at tone of voice when your voice is just cat sounds,} Jameson commented. {The point is, I never really knew any magicians until now, so I never thought to look up the process. I’m assuming if someone locked the magic, there is a way to _un_ lock it. Do you think a regular magician would do?}

Marvin moved his head from side to side, unsure. He hopped off the chair and started stalking around the edges of the room, sniffing, hopping on hind legs to try and see things on top of shelves and other flat surfaces.

Jameson stood up, watching him for a moment. {Looking for something?}

Marvin tapped his paw on the floor, dragging it into a pattern. It took Jameson a moment to realize he was trying to say something. He caught the letters R-I-T-E.

{Something to write with?} Jameson asked. Marvin nodded. {Okay, follow me.} He walked over to the hallway, Marvin trailing around his ankles. The hall branched into three doors, and he opened the one closest. The room beyond was especially dusty, filled with metal cabinets, a swivel chair, and a desk with a computer on it that looked at least fifteen years old. {Let’s hope this works.} He pressed the power buttons on the CPU and the monitor. A painfully long time later, the computer booted up, showing a desktop with a few icons. Jameson clicked on the symbol for Microsoft Word, opening a document with a format that also looked at least fifteen years old. {There we go.}

After a moment of pause and a look like “seriously?” Marvin hopped up onto the desk and sat by the keyboard. It took a long time to tap out a message with his paws, but once it was done, it read _Regular magician could normally._

Jameson’s brows drew together, confused. {“Normally”? What do you mean?}

Marvin huffed, the sound almost like a sneeze. Very slowly, he typed out _Anti locked. Powerful._

{Anti locked your magic. Of course.} Jameson nodded. He’d wondered if one of the other magicians at the cabin had done the deed, but it made sense that Anti would want to do this himself, not leaving anything to chance in this matter. {Yes, I suppose it makes sense that would create a more powerful seal. His magic doesn’t exactly follow the rules.} He purses his lips, thinking.{So we would need an especially powerful magician, but those would be more difficult to go after, wouldn’t they? Especially if they’re well-integrated into the community, no doubt they’d have been taught more mental defenses than the average joe.} After a moment’s consideration, his eyes lit up. {Or perhaps we don’t involve a magician at all. Perhaps we need something higher.}

Marvin looked at him, ears flicking. He made a curious-sounding _mrrp_ noise.

{Give me this for a moment.} Jameson pulled the keyboard close, then clicked open the shortcut for Internet Explorer and typed in Google’s address. {I know someone who might be able to help us, either with his own abilities or in finding a magician powerful enough. It’s been a while since I saw him, but he said he would be getting a website up and running. If I could just…} He typed a phrase into the search bar and hit enter. Scrolling through the results, he finally found what he wanted on the third page. {Aha!} He grinned triumphantly. {So glad this computer still has access to the more magical websites, though I suppose he would want his to be visible to everyone.} Clicking the link took them to a website with a red and black color scheme. {Got it. He’s still in America, in Los Angeles.}

Marvin seemed to perk up at that, ears flicking upward. But then they lowered again. He stuck his paw underneath Jameson’s arms and tried to grab the mouse. Jameson, catching on, went back to the Word document. _How there_ , Marvin typed.

{How do we get there?} Jameson asked. {Well, we should be able to get a plane easily enough. It’d have to be one that allows transport of anim—} He suddenly gasped, hands flying upward to clutch his head. He didn’t even notice falling to the ground. Marvin looked at him curiously where he landed, but he didn’t notice that either. There was a noise in his head. A noise of emotion, thrown at his mind. As it faded, he was left with a sort of familiar feeling.

Then he felt a weight land on his chest, knocking his breath away. Marvin slapped his face with his paw. 

{I’m fine, thanks for asking,} Jameson said. {Though it seems we might have to take a slight detour to pick someone up.}

 _Mrow!_ Marvin sounded annoyed.

{It shouldn’t take long,} Jameson reasoned. {Anyway, I should explain. I was trying to figure out what happened to you a while ago, so I went to talk to some friends of ours.} He sat up. {Told one to contact me if he ever needed anything. Seems he does.}

Marvin dug his claws into Jameson’s shirt, causing slight pain in his chest. _Mrooooow!_ he whined, the annoyance unmistakable.

{Well, you’re not in much position to fly to Los Angeles yourself, so you’ll have to bear with me with this,} Jameson said, grabbing Marvin—much to the cat’s displeasure—and standing up. {Besides, in this part of this country there are no international flights, so we’d have to do some travelling anyway.}

Squirming out of his hands, Marvin hopped onto the ground and glared up at Jameson. He stalked away, tail in the air. Jameson felt like this was a “fine, but I won’t be happy about it.”

{Good.} He looked out the window at the setting sun again. {We should sleep for the night, then leave in the morning.}

Mrow! Marvin called, leaving the room.

Jameson sighed. Right. Good talk. He headed out as well, ready to finally get some time to relax for a bit.

* * *

The night passed. Some ways away from the safe house, but much closer than anyone else would have thought, the sun rose on a cabin in the middle of the woods. It continued its path into the sky, and once it was high above, the door opened and a group of people, as well as one floating eyeball, went outside.

“Nice day,” Stacy commented idly. “So glad I’ll be spending it driving.”

Jack burst into laughter. “Hey, what else did you have planned today? What would you be doing?”

“Hmm…not much, I guess,” Stacy considered. “It’s fine, we had to head home eventually. God, I’ll be owing Matilda a _big_ favor for watching the kids for so long.”

“Yeah. Hope they’re good,” Jack muttered. Sam settled onto his shoulder, nuzzling his neck. 

A spot next to him shimmered, and Anti glitched into place. “I could check on them if you want,” he offered.

“No, they’re probably good,” Stacy said. “Don’t go to any trouble.”

A shorter woman popped up next to Stacy. “You have kids?” Heather asked. “Really? How did that not come up yet, wow. Are they cute?”

Stacy smiled a bit. “Yeah, I think they are.”

“Awww. I could never be a mom, I don’t think I could handle it well, but I’m totally willing to be an aunt if Yvonne ever wants kids.”

Yvonne, hovering on the edge of the group, let out a small laugh. “No, I don’t think I have time for kids, really. It’s a demanding job. Lifelong commitment.”

“Speaking of our jobs.” Frederick checked the time on his phone. “We probably have a lot to explain to them. The sooner we get going, the sooner we can get that over with.”

Tiernan poked his head out of the door. “Are you sure ye don’ want t’stay any longer? It’s no trouble.”

“No, we couldn’t impose on you any longer,” Frederick said. “But thanks.” He looks over at Stacy, Jack, and Anti. “Anyway, I don’t think I said this yet, but it was nice to meet you guys.”

“Yeah, nice to meet you too,” Jack said. “And, uh…Jackie.”

Jackie, previously standing half-behind Frederick, jumped a bit at the acknowledgement. “Uh…yeah?”

“Nice to…see you. Again,” Jack said slowly.

“Uh…yeah, you too,” Jackie said, smiling a bit.

Anti stared at Jackie, maintaining eye contact for an uncomfortably long time. Jackie squirmed, then looked down. “So. What are you doing after this,” Anti said. It was not a question.

“He’s gonna stay with me for a while,” Frederick jumped in.

“You know the deal with him, right?” Anti asked him.

“Yes,” Frederick said firmly. “We’re working on it.”

Anti narrowed his eyes, but accepted this as an answer. “Right!” Jack said, clapping his hands. “Well…goodbye. Like I said, nice to meet you.”

“Yeah. Goodbye,” Jackie said.

A few short moments later, two cars pulled away from the cabin. In one, there was a man, a woman, an eyeball, and a glitch. In the other, there were two magicians, a journalist, and a former vigilante. None of them ever expected to see each other again. But expectations would not last forever.

* * *

“I’m home!” Stacy called, throwing the door to her house open.

“Mom!” Two little voices shouted in unison. The shout was quickly followed by two pairs of footsteps, and soon two kids slammed into Stacy. 

She laughed. “Hey, good to see you guys again! I missed you so much.” She looked up to see an older woman enter the living room. “Hi Matilda. So sorry about the last minute change of plans.”

“Eh, it’s fine,” Matilda waved it away. “You wanted some time with your boyfriend, it’s understandable.”

“Wh—no, Jack isn’t—we’re not—” Stacy stammered, feeling her face grow red.

Perfectly timed, Jack walked into the house. “Wow, I’m almost surprised to see this place look exactly the same,” he said.

“Uh, hey Jack?” Stacy asked. “We’re not dating, right?”

“What? No, that would be weird,” Jack said, taken aback. “Where did that come from?”

“Eh, any man and woman spends so much time together, they’ll end up a couple eventually,” Matilda commented. “Now Stacy, about my extra payment.”

“Uh…right.” Stacy reached into her pocket and pulled out her wallet.

“Well, I’m gonna go,” Jack said, edging past the group in the living room. “See you guys later tonight.” He walked down the hall and into the guest bedroom. The window outside showed a dark sky.

There was a computer on a desk in the corner. Its screen fizzled with static, and then Anti was there. “What’s the deal with that old woman?”

“Babysitter,” Jack commented, shrugging off his backpack and dropping it on the bed. “She’s a bit old-fashioned.”

Anti rolled his eye. “That’s the same excuse people were making ninety years ago for that same behavior.” He looked at the computer, which then flickered rapidly through a few different windows. “So you started recording again?”

“Yeah. I thought it was safe enough, since they’re all scattered and arrested and stuff.” Jack unzipped the backpack, and Sam wriggled out, flying around the perimeter of the room before settling on the bed’s pillow. “I missed it, you know? Not really keeping to the schedule as much, though. I think it’s easier that way.”

Anti nodded. “Yeah. Don’t wear yourself out.” He paused. “So…are we ready to talk about what happened yet?”

Jack hesitated. “What d’you mean?”

“I mean the motherfucker who came in and stole Marvin the Magnificent-At-Clawing-Furniture away,” Anti said bluntly.

“…oh. Yeah.” Jack sat down on the edge of the bed, staring at nothing. Seeing Jameson again had been…difficult. Getting frozen by him was even more so.

Anti’s expression softened. “I’m sorry. It’s just…we need to at least touch on it, y’know? We don’t know what he’s planning.”

“Nothing good, of course,” Jack muttered. “I mean, he and Marvin are friends, right? He’s probably gonna try to turn him back into a human.”

“Well…the two of them weren’t exactly on the best terms last I saw them,” Anti said slowly.

“What? Then…do you think Jameson would want to…?” He doesn’t even want to suggest it, but he silently makes a stabbing motion.

“No! Gods, no,” Anti hurriedly said. “He wouldn’t do that, even if they’re not friends anymore. He still likes Marvin, and even if he didn’t, he’d spare him for memories of when he did. You’re right, he probably wants to turn him back at the very least, maybe even unlock his magic.”

Jack blinked. “You sound pretty sure.”

“I am.”

“Well, _how_ can you be so sure?”

Anti shifted a bit, glitches buzzing along his arms. Then he sighed. He sat on top of the desk, phasing halfway through the computer. “I guess I should tell you, since it’s starting to look like Jameson is our last real obstacle. I…used to know him. Used to like him. You know how you’re my host, right? He…was the one before you.”

Jack gaped at him, momentarily at a loss. “What? Jameson? But he’s…terrible.”

“Yeah, well, some hosts haven’t exactly been the best people,” Anti muttered. “And people change. Though, granted, Jameson changed more than most people do.” He stared into the distance. “Most people aren’t born evil, you know.”

“It’s just…a little hard to believe,” Jack admitted. Hard to think of the man who kept him under his control for two years as someone who used to be…normal.

“I know, and it doesn’t excuse what he’s become,” Anti said. He shook his head. “Anyway, the point is, if he somehow unlocks Marvin’s magic, then Marvin will come after you again, and also cause even more destruction. You don’t have to do anything to stop this, I don’t blame you for not wanting to confront him. But I have to.”

“Would…would Marvin still be a Void?” Jack asked.

Anti looked unsure. “It’s not clear. Dark never tried it themself, just offered it as an option.”

“So what did he do?”

“Killed the Void. I believe it took a while, and even then, it didn’t fully work. There was some strange…I don’t want to say reincarnation, but maybe reimagining, that happened because of it.”

“I’m gonna just…not ask about that right now,” Jack muttered. “So…are you gonna be looking for Jameson, then?”

Anti nodded.

“Good luck. I-I’ll help where I can, but I don’t think I can…be involved in this.” Jack looked down. “Wish I could be. Sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry, it makes sense,” Anti said. He walked over to sit on the side of the bed next to Jack. “I’m not going to ask you to, and nobody should.”

Jack let out a slow breath. “Yeah. Uh, thanks.”

“It’s no problem.” They fell quiet for a moment. Then Anti asked, “Did you want to talk to Stacy’s kids, or something, or were you going to stay in here for the rest of the night?”

“Uh…we were planning on ordering dinner, I should probably help with deciding that. Otherwise they’ll get, like…I dunno, something I don’t like.” Jack stood up.

Anti smiled a bit. “They _won’t_ put the pineapple on the pizza.”

“Oh yeah, she’d totally protest that,” Jack laughed. “Hey, you don’t eat, so you’d probably be objective. Pineapple on pizza?”

“There have been stranger flavor combinations out there,” Anti shrugged. “Honestly as long as you people aren’t poisoning yourselves, I don’t care.”

“Great, I’ll tell her you support it,” Jack said jokingly. 

“That’s not what I sai—”

“Thanks bye!” Jack ducked out of the room before Anti could finish that sentence, laughing to himself.

He was halfway down the hall when the grin faded off his face. Was Jameson really planning to do that? And would it really be that disastrous? He pushed the thoughts out of his mind. For now, he wouldn’t think of that. He’d make the most of this evening. It would be fun, nice times with Stacy, the kids, and Anti. And later? Well…he’d cross that bridge when he came to it. Maybe book a therapy appointment, that could help.

But for now, they would order dinner and relax. He was looking forward to it.

* * *

Jackie woke up late in the morning, blinking his eyes open to an unfamiliar ceiling. He stared at the designs in the plaster for a few moments before he remembered the day before. Travelling all day with Frederick, Heather, and Yvonne before they got home. They got back pretty late, and he was tired and everything hurt so he went to bed immediately. But now it was morning, and he could smell something delicious.

He stretched, wincing as the motion hurt a bit, and stood up, heading out of the room and down the hall to the kitchen. Frederick was awake, wearing a pair of oversized pajamas and cooking on the stove. “Hey,” he said, seeing Jackie enter.

“Hey,” Jackie said. “Umm…breakfast?”

“Yeah. I’m making scrambled eggs. They’re just about done, want any?”

“Sure.”

“Alright, grab a plate, then.” Frederick jerked his head towards some cabinets.

Jackie swung open the cabinets and took out a couple plates. Setting them on the counter, he went quiet, watching Frederick finish up the eggs and scoop them onto the plates. “So, uh…” he shifted awkwardly on his feet. “How’re Heather and Yvonne?”

“Good, last I checked,” Frederick said, pulling open a drawer to get out some silverware. “Eve’s gonna stay with H for a bit, just to get over…you know, the whole hypnotism thing. She’s shaken, but she’ll be alright. Heather’s in a bit of a problem with her boss at the journal, though. Apparently a deadline is getting close.”

“Oh. Uh, well, good luck with that,” Jackie said.

“Do you want juice or anything with this?” Frederick asked.

“Uh, do you have milk?”

“In the fridge. Get me the apple juice, too.”

The two of them were silent as they transitioned to the dining room and started eating. Jackie kept trying to think of something to say. “Uh…your magic hand stopped glowing in the carved parts, did it just power down?” he asked, then immediately regretted it. “Uh, sorry if that’s too personal—”

Frederick laughed. “No, it’s fine.” He tapped the back of his prosthetic with his finger. “I’m just tired. Don’t want to put magic into making it work right now. So it’s just wood for a bit.”

“Oh. Right.” Jackie looked down.

“It’s fine, really. Must’ve seemed weird.” Frederick smiled a bit. “Don’t worry, just tired. I’m always a mess in the mornings.”

“You’re not a mess,” Jackie said sincerely. Honestly he didn’t think Frederick could ever be ‘a mess.’ He always had it together, personality-wise. And as for looks, ruffled hair was pretty good on him.

“Hah. Thanks.” Silence fell for a bit longer. “So what’re you planning on doing today?” Frederick asked.

“Uhhh…I don’t know,” Jackie said haltingly. “I don’t really… _have_ anything to do. I can just hang around your house, I guess.” But he couldn’t do that forever. He had to do something eventually. Of course that would be difficult, given how he’s still a wanted criminal in the area. “Why, were you planning something?”

Frederick pursed his lips. “Well, I have to talk to the Magi—they’re my bosses, basically—about everything that happened the past few days. Because technically, Yvonne and I are still on the Marvin case, it hasn’t been closed yet. Even if from their perspective it’s been three months and we haven’t heard anything from him.”

Jackie blinked. “So…how’re you gonna explain the whole ‘glitch turned him into a cat’ thing?”

“I…have no idea.” Frederick sighed, looking especially tired. “I think I’ll have to say that we had no idea what happened, which technically is true. Anything could have gone down while Jack was in that weird alternate dimension. But then I’ll have to explain how that other guy, Jameson, showed up, and…it’ll just be a mess.” He paused. “So, you know this Jameson, right? Is he a magician?”

“No,” Jackie immediately said. “He was always vocal about not being a magician. I dunno how he did his mind magic, though.”

“Well, if he’s not a magician, he’s a witch,” Frederick said.

“Is there a difference?”

“Yes. Magicians are born with magic, witches rely on outside sources like runes, rituals, and talismans to do their magick,” Frederick explained. “Let me guess. Jameson had some sort of device that let him do his hypnotism?”

“Yeah, he had his watch,” Jackie said slowly.

“That would do it,” Frederick muttered.

“Do the uh…magic guys, the ABIM, would they keep records on witches?” Jackie asked. “Do you think they’d already know about Jameson? I mean, he was very good at avoiding attention, but maybe it’s different for magicians?”

Frederick blinked. “Huh. I’m not sure. There used to be some…” He coughed, uncomfortable. “…stupid discrimination against witches by magicians. Personally I think magicians just used to be upset because anyone could become a witch, made them feel less superior or whatever.”

“Ugh.” Jackie made a choking sound.

“Yeah.” Frederick shook his head. “Anyway, the Magi keeps a registry of all threats, past and present going back like three hundred years. I don’t know if Jameson being a witch would make it more likely for them to have kept records on him, or less likely.”

Jackie frowned. “Well, I guess you could look. If you knew more about Jameson, we might know what he’s going to do with Marvin next.”

“Yeah, I guess we could go look today or tomorrow,” Frederick said.

“Wait, we?” Jackie tensed. “Would I be…allowed to look at this? There’s no, like, restrictions against non-magic people?”

“Not if someone vouches for you,” Frederick said. “So are you up for that?”

“Uh…yeah, sure.” Jackie nodded, trying not to look too excited. “The sooner we get started on this, the sooner we can deal with Marvin and Jameson, right?” Who knew? They were probably already up to something.

* * *

“Sir, I don’t think pets are allowed in here.” The receptionist’s eyes were locked on the black cat in the man’s arms. It was staring at her in a way that kind of freaked her out. But cats usually stared at people, right?

The man blinked, and put the cat down on the desk, where it immediately tried to knock over a mug full of pens. The receptionist caught the cup while the man took out a notebook out of the backpack he was wearing and wrote something out. _He’s a therapy cat,_ he wrote. _Surely you understand._

“Uh…” She wasn’t too sure at first, but the more she thought about it, {the more that made sense.} “Alright. Then can I have the name of the patient you’re visiting?”

 _I’m here to see my friend, Henrik von Schneeplestein_ , the man wrote. _Don’t worry, I’m aware of the difficulties. I talked to Dr. Laurens about it. My name is James Jackell, by the way._

“Ah. Well, if you’re sure.” The receptionist typed the appropriate information into the appropriate form on her computer, ignoring the way the cat kept trying to look at the screen. “Please wait here.”

The man nodded, biting back a smile. _You should go get someone, right?_

“Um…yeah.” Usually the receptionist would just page someone {but this seemed important. She had to go get someone.} So she stood up and left through a side door. 

The moment she was gone, Jameson turned around and picked Marvin up. {Really, we are trying to not draw attention,} he said to him. {It’s difficult enough as it is. People will remember a man carrying a cat around.}

Marvin yawned, and wriggled out onto the desk again.

Just a few moments later, the receptionist returned with a doctor. “Mr. Jackell, right?” The doctor asked. “You…weren’t you here before?”

Jameson nodded. _How nice of you to remember me. May we go back now?_

“Right, um…” the doctor glanced at the cat. “You’re bringing the cat too?”

Jameson nodded firmly. _You will be supervising again?_

“Well, uh…okay, I guess. Yeah, sure.” The doctor turned around and gestured to a nearby door. “Right through there. I’ll be with you shortly.”

Adjusting the straps of his backpack and picking up Marvin, he went into the visitor’s room. It looked much the same as it had the last time he’d been in the hospital. Same table and chairs, same window into an observation room. The room’s other door opened. “Jamie!”

Marvin hopped out of Jameson’s arms just in time to avoid being crushed by a hug from a suddenly appearing Schneep. Luckily, Jameson had also braced for this. {Hello, Henrik,} he said pleasantly.

“I thought you were not coming!” Schneep said, pulling back. “I thought the message I sent had not gone through, that I misunderstood your mental magics. I-I was going to—to—I do not know!” He laughed shakily.

{Well, I won’t lie, it was a bit surprising, but it did come through,} Jameson assured him. {Though now I must ask why you contacted me. I told you only to do so if things got unbearable.}

Schneep looked down and wrapped his arms around himself. His breathing turned a bit shaky. And in that moment, Jameson knew this wasn’t just an exaggeration or an overreaction. Something had happened that made him want to get out of here. “I would rather not talk about it,” Schneep said quietly.

Jameson nods. {That’s fine. We can get you out of here, since you’ve asked.}

“We?” Schneep asked. Marvin meowed loudly and started clawing at his pants leg, drawing his attention. “Oh. Hello Marvin. This is him, right?” He waited for Jameson to nod before continuing. “Oh, I am sorry for not recognizing you! Why are you a cat today?”

{It’s a long story,} Jameson said. {I’ll explain it to you later. But for now.} He looked over at the window, staring into the observation room. The doctor was in there, watching with a confused expression. He waved at her cheerfully, and took out his watch, showing it to her. She just glanced at it, but that was enough, and her expression glazed over. Jameson wormed his way into her mind, adjusting memories as needed be, then sent a mental blast into her thoughts. Her eyes promptly rolled back and she fell unconscious. {This is the spot of least security in this place,} Jameson explained, reaching into his backpack and pulling out a set of clothes. {Here, put these on. I’m making sure nobody is paying attention to us. We can just walk out.}

“A bit of an oversight, yes?” Schneep muttered, taking the clothes and pulling them on over his outfit.

{Well, they were not prepared for me, and who can blame them?} Jameson smiled.

It was just as easy as he suspected. Putting out a mental shield that would confuse and daze anyone nearby took some effort, of course, but in the end, two men and a cat did, in fact, walk right out of the hospital, and nobody noticed. Jameson took a slight detour into the observation room, searching the doctor’s coat and taking some papers, but other than that, it was a straight line out. He then led Schneep to a car parked nearby, and they got in the back seat. The driver, expression just as glazed as the doctor’s had been back in the room, pulled away and started driving.

Schneep leaned forward, giving the driver a once-over. “Where did he come from?” he asked.

{Called for someone to pick us up on an app,} Jameson explained. {But of course, I didn’t want him to know anything. You understand, right?}

“Yes, of course, makes sense,” Schneep said, leaning back. Marvin hopped onto his lap, and he gasped, surprised. “Oh yes, hello. I forgot to say that, didn’t I? It has been a while since I’ve seen you. Where have you been?” Marvin couldn’t answer, of course, but instead curled up on his lap and closed his eyes, purring contentedly.

Jameson flipped through the papers he’d gotten from the doctor. Most of it was useless, but…there! One sheet listed a couple different medications, with dates attached. He found the one that was listed up to the present day. Noted. Saying nothing, he folded that sheet and slipped it into his pocket. Just in case Schneep got too…out of control. Speaking of which…{Henrik, Marvin and I were going to Los Angeles to meet up with a friend of mine. Would you like to come?}

Schneep considered this, playing with the bracelet around his wrist. “Well…that is an awfully long ways to go.”

{But we would be together,} Jameson said, adding a little push to the projection.

“But we would be together,” Schneep repeated. “Yes, I suppose that is good thing. You are my friends, after all, and it has been a long time since I have seen you. And farther away from…these people.” He shuddered. “Alright, I will come with you.”

{Great!} Jameson said cheerfully. {We’ll pick up supplies and clothes and anything you need. Then we’ll head to the airport.}

So far, everything was going smoothly. And he could see it continuing that way. They’d get help in unlocking Marvin’s magic, he’d be a human and a magician again, and then…well, Jameson hoped that by then, they’d at least be friendly again. He doubted it, but he still hoped. Schneep was an unexpected variable, but he was a friend, and on top of that, could be useful. Maybe Jameson would stay in the States after all this, it had been awhile since he’d been there.

The one complication he could see happening was that a certain glitch probably wasn’t about to let this just happen. Jameson ran his finger along the edge of his watch, eyes darkening. Yes, Anti wouldn’t give up. Which is why he needed a plan for that. It would be difficult, but he had to get rid of him. Somehow.

Leaning back in the seat, Jameson started thinking of the next steps to take.


	43. An Abhorrent Song

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anti and Jackie conduct separate investigations into Jameson. Meanwhile, unknown to either of them, Jameson is visiting an old friend who he thinks could help unlock Marvin's magic again.

Humming filled the hub, the sound of technology working. The sound was comforting to Anti, hearing the electricity working, making the machines go. Someday he hoped the hub wouldn’t be needed anymore. Hoped that it wouldn’t be necessary to use all this computing power to monitor things online. But for now, it was. And so he used the computers to monitor the Internet of the nation, looking for any sign of Jameson.

He didn’t think that Jameson would’ve left the country yet. But he would probably be on his way. So he searched. Travel websites, local news sources, things like that. And after a bit of hacking that would’ve been quite difficult for anyone who wasn’t a living glitch, he found something. A pair of plane tickets, registered under the names of James Jackell and Henry Jackell. They’d also booked in-cabin flight for a pet, which was something not that many airlines offered.

The “Jackell” name was an alias Jameson had been using for years. Well, not even years, but decades. Anti remembered the first time he used it, remembered playfully mocking how similar it was to his own name. He couldn’t believe he was still using it, but he supposed that after decades, no one would think the two names were the same person. And the bit about the in-cabin pet flight really convinced him. Marvin would still be a cat, after all.

But then who was the second person? Anti felt suspicion start to grow, and he wasn’t happy about it. He clicked off of the website data, pulling away from the monitor and leaving behind a few stray pixels. Then he glitched over to a different screen, turning to a set of cameras; specifically, the cameras in the hospital Schneep was supposed to be in. Yet, oddly enough, there was some footage missing. He’d need to access the network directly to try and recover that, but it wasn’t necessary. The fact that it was missing in the first place confirmed that suspicion.

“What are you planning, Jameson?” Anti asked. Why did he need Marvin and Schneep? He glitched back over to the website data, looking up where those tickets were heading. International flight, from London to Los Angeles. Leaving at midnight…which was about thirty minutes ago. “Shit,” he muttered. Too late to stop them. But they happened to be heading to Los Angeles, and luckily, there were some people in that city Anti was quite familiar with.

He backed up, considering. Alright, so he’d tell Dark and the others to look out for two men and a black cat. And he’d do some watching of his own. Of course, he’d have to head to LA himself to monitor things. Though he may be able to check out the local Internet culture of the city from here, he couldn’t keep an eye on things like security cameras.

But he hesitated to leave. Jack didn’t need him, did he? Well, probably not, but he…didn’t want to leave yet. He had to at least let him know what he was going to do.

After a moment of thought, Anti came to a decision. He’d send a message to Dark tonight, but he wouldn’t go there himself until he said goodbye to Jack, Sam, and Stacy. Besides, the flight would be a while anyway. Jameson wouldn’t be able to do anything for a while.

* * *

“So…this is it, then?” Jackie asked, climbing out of the car. “It’s not what I was expecting.” The building they arrived at looked like a library. Probably because it was. Not a particularly grand one, not a run-down closed one, it was just an everyday library, made out of brick and brownstone.

“Yeah, there’s a lot of magician stuff that has their entrances in libraries,” Frederick explained, walking around the car to the sidewalk. “They’re open to anyone, and you won’t look out of place carrying books around. Even if there isn’t an ABIM thing inside, a lot of libraries have a hidden spellbook section.”

“Wow. So does that mean, like, librarians are magicians?”

Frederick chuckled. “Probably some. Depends on how big the library is, I think.” The two of them stood, looking over the building for a while longer. “Well, what are we waiting for?” Frederick adjusted the gloves he was wearing. “Let’s head in.”

The library’s interior looked…well, average. There were lines of shelves, groupings of armchairs, couches, and tables, and colorful displays set up advertising good books to read. Jackie followed Frederick over to a corner of the first floor, the red-brown carpet muffling their footsteps. The librarians and patrons didn’t really look up at them as they headed over there.

This appeared to be a part of the reference section. Scanning the titles, Jackie saw it was mostly full of dull books about complicated subjects—a lot of math and business with long titles. Frederick grabbed Jackie’s hand, who gasped softly in response, and ran his other hand along one of the wooden shelves at chest-height, whispering something under his breath. His eyes lit up green, and twirls of white light glowed along the shelf, patterns and runes that weren’t there before. The entire bookshelf swung outward like the door to a secret passage, revealing a staircase downward. Frederick grinned at Jackie, and pulled him down the stairs.

The passage downward was made of wood, lit up by electric candles contained in glass globes. They didn’t appear magic, but they also weren’t connected to the walls, just dangling from string, and Jackie couldn’t see any compartments for batteries. Eventually the stairway opened up into a lobby sort of area with a fancy sort of atmosphere, dark wooden panels on the walls and soft-looking sofas upholstered in dark reds. There was a desk sitting between two empty doorways, and a woman wearing cat-eye glasses was sitting behind it.

“Hi Felicia,” Frederick said.

“Oh, hello again Mr. Chiu,” the woman said, smiling. “I’m sure I don’t need to tell you to sign in, but I have to anyway.” She giggled, then looked over at Jackie. “Who’s this?”

“This is Jackie, he’s a friend of mine,” Frederick explained. “Helping me with the case. He’ll be a second party.”

“Alrighty then.” Felicia reached under the desk and took out what looked like a gold iPad, but without the logo. She set it on the surface, along with a matching gold stylus.

Frederick picked up the stylus and started writing on the screen. Jackie leaned over, seeing what looked like a form. “Here, just sign your name on the ‘second party’ section.” He handed the stylus to Jackie, who took it and scribbled out a signature on the appropriate line. As he did so, he couldn’t help but notice that, while the stylus had glowed faintly green while Frederick wrote with it, it remained dull while he wrote.

“You’re good to go, then,” Felicia said cheerfully, picking up the tablet and writing something else down on it—the stylus gaining a slight pink glow as she wrote.

“Great. Thanks so much. C’mon, this way.” Frederick headed through the left doorway, and Jackie followed him.

“Soooo…was that sign-in magic?” Jackie asked.

“It does register a magician’s magic signature while we use it,” Frederick said. “There’s a sample of that in the registry, so we can double-check that everyone is who they say they are. These records could be, uh…very sensitive. You need the right permissions, or you need to be vouched by someone who does.” He shrugged. “Anyway, it’s just saying your check-in time, what you’re here for, stuff like that. We’ll have to sign out later. Oh! We’re here.”

The hallway opened up into something that looked pretty similar to a library, but it was nothing like the one upstairs. The bookshelves towered higher, three times Jackie’s height, and two balconies ran along the edge, showing two other floors with more shelves. The far side of the room wasn’t visible, but if Jackie had to guess, the room was the size of an American football field. And it looked like the stories above just got bigger, a series of concentric circles. Silver chandeliers dangled from the ceiling, and the room was lit up bright. Jackie’s jaw actually dropped seeing the sheer size of this place, and wondering how all this was just a few dozen feet beneath the surface.

Frederick looked over at his stunned expression and smiled softly. “Yeah, it’s a lot.”

“How do you get _around_ this place?!” Jackie asked.

Frederick burst into laughter.

“I mean, it has to be a lot of walking, right? I’m a pretty athletic guy, but I’d still hate that.”

“There is so much walking,” Frederick agreed, still chuckling. “I can’t believe we haven’t developed a better way of sorting through all this.”

“This is gonna suck,” Jackie groaned.

“Well, hey, we have a lot of it on a database now,” Frederick said. “Everything from about 1950 onward. I hear they’re working on going farther back.”

“Okay, yeah, but we’re here to find out more about Jameson, right?” Jackie asked. “I think he was born in like…1900, give or take a couple years. And he doesn’t look any older than mid to late twenties, so that’s still the 1920’s.”

“Luckily, it’s sorted by age.” Frederick grabbed Jackie’s hand again. “Come on, we should at least check out the database before we do the hard work.”

There was a large clear area in the middle of the room, where there were a few tables and chairs with desk lamps. Desktop computers sat on smaller tables, spaced out between the larger ones. This area was empty, though a couple people could be seen further into the shelves, though they were definitely out of ear shot.

“Here we are.” Frederick pulled a couple of chairs over to the nearest computer, and he and Jackie sat down. The monitor showed a login page. Frederick quickly typed in a username and password, and was brought to a homepage of a website.

“What’s this?” Jackie asked.

“My page,” Frederick said. “This is where all the cases I’m working on are. You see here, there’s only one active one. And then these grayed-out ones are all the ones I’ve already completed.”

Jackie whistled. “That’s a lot. So, you’re a magic detective.”

“Uh…kind of? I mean, I basically look into claims of black magic, and if there’s some weight to them, I bring the perpetrators in. Hopefully diplomatically, though people are dicks sometimes.”

“What happens to the people once you bring them in?” Jackie asked, a bit suspicious.

“Oh there’s a whole process,” Frederick said. “There’s a panel that looks over what they’ve done, someone interviews them about why they’ve done it, then seven judges debate and determine what’ll happen to them. It can range from fines to rehabilitation to imprisonment to locking magic…but that last one is only in extreme cases.”

“That’s what happened to Marvin,” Jackie said.

“Yeah well, Marvin’s magic got locked by a being of unknown powers after he became a Kong He. Wait.” Frederick hesitated. “What’s the word in…? It’s not a direct translation, it’s like…empty and dark and—”

“Void,” Jackie supplies.

“A Void! Right. Sorry, I was working automatically there,” Frederick shook his head. “That’s not a term you use every day. Anyway, speaking of Marvin.” He clicked on the active case, opening up a long document of text. There was a photograph of Marvin attached, looking younger and without the scars that would cover the upper half of his face. “Just checking to see if there’s anything that could help us here.”

“Okay, but like, finding information on Jameson is still the most important,” Jackie said. Then he sat up straight. “Hey, I got an idea. We should divide our efforts. You go look for Jameson stuff, and I’ll read through this to see if anything, uhhh, stands out.”

“Hmm…yeah that would probably be a lot quicker. Good idea.” Frederick smiles at Jackie, who inhales sharply at the sudden stutter in his chest, and then stands up. “I’m the only one of us two who knows how to navigate the area, anyway. I’ll be back in like…twenty or thirty minutes, okay?”

“Okay.”

“Great.” Frederick gives a thumbs-up, then heads off into the shelves.

Jackie watched him walk away for a bit, then turned back to the computer screen. The text on this file was pretty dense; it would take him a while to read through it. He started absentmindedly tapping on the desk to help him focus on the reading.

According to the file, the ABIM became aware of Marvin after a magic show of his went really wrong. Huh. Jackie didn’t know Marvin was once a stage magician. By all accounts, Marvin wasn’t actually part of the magic community, and didn’t even know it existed. So they sent someone undercover: Yvonne. She was supposed to steer him away from black magic, but couldn’t. Apparently he was already too enthralled by the power of the magic. So the ABIM decided to confront him. He panicked and fled, and after a while, tried a black magic spell that he wasn’t prepared for. It backfired in his face, doing some serious damage, and the ABIM captured him.

Jackie snorted. Evidently _that_ didn’t last long. He read further. The ABIM judges decided he was too dangerous, and sentenced him to imprisonment, but he escaped. Though…there was something odd. There was a second photograph attached farther down through the document, of all the damage done to Marvin’s face. It was horrible to look at, in all honesty. But…Jackie didn’t even want to look closely, but he had to make sure. Yes, that was an odd difference. He read further down in the text. “Oh, wait…no. No no no, what the fuck?”

He couldn’t just sit there, he had to…confirm this with someone. Of course, the only person he knew here was Frederick, so he stood up and went to go look for him.

Frederick was down one of the rows of shelves, sitting on the floor, surrounded by a couple stacks of books. He’d pick one up, thumb through to a specific point, then scan a few pages before putting it down and picking up another. Jackie coughed, and he looked up. “Oh hey,” Frederick said. “Are you done already?”

“Yeah, uh, actually I have a question.” Jackie sat on the floor next to him. “So, this is gonna sound insane, but the file said, like, Marvin cast a spell that backfired? And then it showed a picture, and the…well, it was a fucking awful picture of the injuries, but uh…he didn’t—it looked like Marvin didn’t have any eyes?”

Frederick nodded. “Yeah, I remember that picture.”

“Okay but,” Jackie continued. “The Marvin I know has eyes. But like, it also said, uhh…” He shifted, a bit uncomfortable. “Said that after, uh, he escaped, he killed a couple of magicians to get away, and that…one of them…was also missing eyes?”

Frederick sighed deeply. “You know, Jackie, there are a lot of fucked up black magic spells out there.”

“Holy shit.” Jackie covered his mouth. “You’re actually saying he stole the guy’s eyes?!”

“That’s what all the evidence says,” Frederick said carefully.

“No no no nope, no thanks, I wish I’d never heard that, that is fucking _gross_ and fucked up and—”

“So while you’re here, do you want to help me look through this?” Frederick asked. “These are records of crimes in 1920 to 1930. Each book is half a year, and it’s all sorted alphabetically by the offender’s last name. I’ve already looked through 1920, 21, 22, 30, 29, and half of 28. They’re all in this stack.”

“Yeah, sure.” Jackie wasn’t looking forward to this, but it sounded a lot better than continuing to read through that file.

Minutes passed in silence. All the books were handwritten, and sometimes Jackie struggled to read the writing. But he didn’t think he saw Jameson anywhere. Until: “Wait, I think I got it.” It was the book for 1926, July to December. “I can’t read most of this, but it looks like it says Jameson Jackson.”

Frederick closed the book he was looking at. “Hand it to me.” Jackie did so, and Frederick scanned through it. “‘Jameson Jackson. Age 28. Witch. Accused of theft of precious spellbook from Underriver Repository. Book involved the art of talismans’—that should be available for witches anyway, y’know—‘and mental-based spells. Two agents sent to bring offender in. One casualty, died by…’ whoa. ‘Died by blood loss, cause being her own wand, jabbed into artery in neck. Only fingerprints on wand were magician’s own.’”

“But he did kill this magician,” Jackie said. “He must’ve…made her…”

“There’s more. ‘Theft of spellbook,’ written down a couple more times. More casualties…this one says, ‘One casualty, died by magic burning damage cast by magician’s partner, who vanished along with the offender.’” Frederick looked up. “I guess that’s his first time taking someone with him to be hypnotized.”

“God, this is messed up.” Jackie shook his head. “This whole thing is. I knew Jameson was awful, but…”

“Wait, this last one is a bit different,” Frederick said. “‘December 30th, 1926. Theft of spellbook from…’ the name is blacked out. ‘Book involved blood magick.’” Frederick paled. “‘Agent went against ABIM orders to confront offender earlier than planned. One casualty, died by…’ oh no.”

“What? What’s ‘oh no’?” Jackie demanded.

“‘Died by severe injury: removal of heart from ribcage,’” Frederick read in a hushed voice. “‘Oddly enough, two heart organs found at site of magician’s death’—what the fuck?!”

“Oh my god, the shit?!” Jackie gaped. “I’m sorry, what?! Why?! How?!”

Frederick slammed the book closed. “This is just an overview of the crime, there are more specific files somewhere else in here.”

“You know I don’t think I want to hear more about that, actually!” Jackie half-shouted. “The fuck is blood magick anyway?!”

“It’s probably the most fucked up magic of all the fucked up magics,” Frederick said. “It runs on the power of the caster’s blood…or at least, it does, ideally. In reality, for the more powerful spells you need more and more blood to cast, so you know, you’ll need to drain blood from other people, and in magick, you need to continually repeat the ritual in order to keep the spell alive—”

“Oh my fuck, _that’s_ how he’s immortal!” Jackie suddenly gasped. “Tha-that’s—I’m getting tired of saying fucked up, but I really can’t think of anything else—”

“That’s totally possible.” Frederick looked a little sick. “Immortality spells are very dark magic. I don’t know much about blood magick, but it makes sense that there would be some sort of—of thing that uses continual sacrifices to keep someone alive.”

“That’s just…not worth it,” Jackie says, shocked.

“Not to most people, no,” Frederick said, shutting the book. He went quiet for a moment. “Objectively, I know we should probably look up more details about that case, but I’m not sure I want to hear more about it at the moment.”

“That is totally understandable, let’s get out of here,” Jackie said. “We can come back later or something, just…fuck, man. We needed to be more prepared for that.”

“Agreed. Help me reshelve these, and we’ll go.”

The drive back home was quiet. It took about two hours, and neither of them said a word the entire time. There was more on their minds.

* * *

Halfway across the world, an alarm set for nine o’clock went off in a hotel room. The clock was promptly knocked onto the floor by a very annoyed cat.

Schneep groaned, and buried his face in the pillow. “Marvin, no, it is still going. Now I have to move in order to turn it off.”

 _Mroooow,_ Marvin whined, jumping back over from the nightstand to the cushy armchair he’d been napping on until recently.

{You two have been sleeping long enough,} Jameson said, standing in front of the bathroom mirror and checking his reflection. The open door meant the others’ complaints were clearly audible. {I know, we’re all adjusting to the time difference, but we can’t just stay in bed all day.}

“We got here at 1:30.” Schneep pulled the blankets over his head. “In the morning! It took us forty minutes to find a hotel! We only got seven hours at most, and it takes some time to get to sleep.”

{But consider that it is five in the evening back home,} Jameson pointed out. {I’m sure you’ll be fine. I’ve been up for an hour already, and I’m alright, aren’t I?}

Marvin hissed at him irritably. Schneep groaned again, and reached down to the ground to turn the alarm off. “Jamie, if you go get me a coffee from the breakfast downstairs, I promise I will at least be sitting up by the time you get back.”

{Very well then,} Jameson said, amused.

About fifteen minutes later, Schneep was sitting in the room’s armchair, sipping from one of the hotel’s disposable coffee cups. Marvin had claimed the spot on the bed where Schneep had previously been sleeping, soaking up the remaining body heat from the mattress. Jameson was the only one standing, filling the others in on the plan.

{I printed off the address of the shop, as well as some directions,} he said, holding up a sheet of paper. {It shouldn’t take too long to get there, if we get a taxicab.}

“And this shop belongs to a friend of yours,” Schneep clarified. “Who we need to see because Marvin is stuck as a cat.”

{Precisely!} Jameson nodded eagerly.

“And they _will_ be willing to help?” Schneep asked. “It would be a shame to come all the way here for completely nothing.”

{I do think so,} Jameson said. {If not as a favor, then we can negotiate a deal with him.}

“Hmm…” Schneep still had doubts. “And this person is still…around?”

{Oh yes, definitely,} Jameson nodded. {But we can’t go to see him until everyone is ready to go.}

“Okay, okay, I get the hints,” Schneep said, sipping from the cup. “I will hurry.”

It took about another thirty minutes for Schneep to get ready, and another fifteen minutes after that for the three of them to leave the hotel and make their way to the nearest taxi stand. And from there, it was ten minutes to actually get into a cab. The driver gave them some odd looks. Which was to be expected, it wasn’t often that people carried a cat around, out in the open and without any carrier in sight. But the driver must have been used to odd customers, because he accepted Jameson’s address—accompanied by Schneep asking “Can you drive us here, please?”—without any further looks.

The address was in a part of Los Angeles that was busy, but not crazy with tourists. The streets were lined with stores, and surprisingly some palm trees. After a while, the cab stopped outside a store that didn’t stand out that much compared to the ones around it. Its exterior wasn’t particularly decorated, and there were no clothes or other wares on display in the windows. A sign above the door designated this store the “Dream Emporium.”

Jameson handed the taxi driver a handful of American bills, enough to cover the fare, along with a written note that said _Please wait here. We’re only expecting to be a half hour at most._ Then he and Schneep stepped out, with Schneep carrying Marvin in his arms. “What is this place?” he asked. “‘Dream Emporium’? What does that mean?”

{Well, let’s go see.} Jameson jerked his head towards the store’s entrance, and the two of them headed inside.

The interior didn’t look like a store of any kind. It was done in mostly dark colors, nice but not overly fancy, cozy but professional at the same time. There was just one room, but there were two doorways blocked by curtains set in the back wall. Comfortable-looking sofas and chairs made a seating area, surrounding a couple coffee tables. The walls were covered in framed posters—showcasing movies, plays, music acts, and even more—and photos of people performing on stages and film sets. A catchy alternative rock song played in the air.

“Things are not any more clearer inside,” Schneep muttered.

Marvin wriggled out of Schneep’s arms, dropping to the floor and immediately trotting over to look at some of the posters. He stopped to stare at a set of pictures of a man in a cape and a top hat, standing on stage. His tail drooped.

{This is about what I was expecting,} Jameson said. He glanced back out to the street. The windows had become darker, like they were tinted only from the inside. {I suppose now we just have to wait for him.}

Schneep huffed, a bit irritated. “Okay, yes, but I still do not know what this place is. Is it something like psychic powers? That ‘Dream Emporium’ title makes it sound like mind things. Which I suppose is fitting, for you.”

“Actually, the name refers to aspirations, not the sort of dreams you have when you’re asleep.”

Schneep yelped. Marvin jumped a full foot into the air, tripping over himself in an effort to turn around more quickly than he could manage. Jameson looked a bit surprised, but not alarmed. They all spun around to see a man had appeared, standing near the back wall. Presumably he’d just come in from one of the doorways, but they hadn’t heard him coming. He was well-dressed in a red button-up and a black vest, not unlike Jameson’s usual style. His hair and eyes were dark, and he carried a cane topped with a clear glass sphere. “Hello…who are you?” Schneep asked.

{This is Phantom, Henrik, he’s a friend of mine,} Jameson said.

“Oh, is that telepathy I hear?” The man—Phantom—asked. He suddenly smiled. “Jameson Jackson, that can’t be you, can it?”

Jameson grinned, and gave a small bow. {In the flesh. You seem well.}

“You do too. Haven’t aged a day, have you?” Phantom walked closer. He gave Schneep a once-over. “Who’s this? Henrik, you said. A relative?”

{Surprisingly, no.}

“Boyfriend, then?”

{No, Henrik isn’t exactly my type.} Jameson glanced over at Schneep. {No offense intended.}

“None taken, you are not mine, either,” Schneep said. “We are just friends.”

{Phantom, as much as I’d love to catch up, we came here on a more serious issue,} Jameson said. {We need help, and I thought you’d be able to provide it.}

Phantom tilted his head. “Oh? Well, if we’re going to be talking, let’s sit down. Come, come.” He led them over to the cluster of sofas and chairs. The two of them sat down on one of the couches while Phantom took a chair facing them. “So what’s the problem?”

Marvin walked on over, hopping on the sofa between Jameson and Schneep. He looked up at Phantom, ears flat, leaning back. Wary.

{This is Marvin,} Jameson explained. {He’s…not normally a cat. He’s a magician. Unfortunately, his magic was locked while he was in this form, and now he can’t turn back. I was hoping you could help us unlock his magic so he can change.}

“Hmm…” Phantom leaned back, folding his hands on top of his cane. “Well, yes, I might be able to do that.”

“Can we press the pause for a minute?” Schneep interrupted. “I am still very confused! And I am tired of asking what this place is, so I will just ask, who are you? Are you a magician? How do you and Jameson know each other?”

“Oh no, I’m not a magician at all.” Phantom smiled. “They aren’t supposed to come into this city or the surrounding area, as a matter of fact. It’s one of the reasons my brother and I decided to move here. That and all the aspiring stars who flock to this place. No, I’m what’s called a demon.”

“Wh—” Schneep’s expression went blank as he tried to process this matter-of-fact statement.

{I probably should have explained it to you ahead of time, shouldn’t I?} Jameson fretted. {My apologies.}

Marvin jumped up onto the back of the sofa, crouching and glaring at Jameson and Phantom. Clearly, he wasn’t happy about not knowing this.

“Please disregard any religious imagery you’re no doubt picturing,” Phantom said. “I can assure you, it is incorrect, exaggerated, or out of date. Demons are a race of beings—well, actually, there are many different kinds, but we all share certain characteristics. We come from pocket dimensions attached to this world. And we have the ability to make deals with other beings. I’m sure you understand the concept. That’s part of why this city was so appealing. So many people willing to do so much for a chance at having their dreams fulfilled.”

“Okay, okay.” Schneep stood up. “Jameson, I cannot speak for you, but I do not think making a deal with a demon is a good idea. In fact, it sounds terrible.”

“I may be able to do this as a favor,” Phantom said. “A formal deal would increase my power, but unlocking magic is pretty simple.”

{Ah. Well, it’s also a bit more complicated.} Jameson said slowly. {You see, Marvin’s magic wasn’t locked by a magician. It was locked by…ah, I don’t know how to describe him. A glitch. He’s a bit like a demon, but…not. Something else entirely.}

Phantom frowned, but looked intrigued. “Marvin, can you come here?” He patted a spot on the table in front of him. “I’ll need physical contact so I can assess this.”

Marvin growled low in his throat, but after a moment, hopped down from the sofa and over to the table. He held out a single paw like he was looking for a handshake. Phantom looked amused, and took the paw. The sight was fairly ridiculous and so different from the serious reason they’d come here for. Schneep bit back a laugh as he sat back down again.

After a moment, Phantom let go and leaned back, pursing his lips. {What’s wrong?} Jameson asked warily. {You look…troubled.}

“That is a magical signature I have never seen before,” Phantom stated clearly. “Nor anything similar. I’m…not sure if I’d be able to undo the lock, even with the power of a deal. Not because it’s powerful, although it is. But because I…simply don’t know how this works.”

Jameson’s brow furrowed. {What do you mean?}

“Well, imagine a series of locks,” Phantom started. “Imagine that, as a lockpicker, you are used to several different locks of varying strength and difficulty. Then imagine you find a box that doesn’t have a traditional lock keeping it closed, but a puzzle. All your knowledge of lockpicking is useless, since there is no visible mechanism, so you’re stuck with the puzzle. But you have never heard of this type of puzzle before, so you don’t even know where to start. That is what this is like.”

“Great, so we came all this way for nothing,” Schneep muttered.

{Could you help us find someone who knows how to unlock it?} Jameson asked.

“I suppose…a human magician might be able to force their way through,” Phantom said, not looking too optimistic. “But I have been in this world for a long time, and this lock doesn’t resemble anything I’ve seen before.”

Jameson sighed, and looked up at the ceiling. {Well, I suppose it makes sense, that he’d make this whole thing so difficult.}

Marvin jumped off the table, pacing in circles around one of the table legs. There was a purring sound deep in his throat, but it wasn’t one of contentment. His tail flicked side to side, along with his ears. The anxiety was clear.

“So we find a human magician,” Schneep said, trying to formulate a plan. “One that is strong enough to force the lock open. That should not be too difficult, yes? May take a lot of trial and error—”

{Unfortunately, we may not have time for a lot of trial and error,} Jameson said. Marvin made a distressed whining sound.

“What? Why?” Schneep asked. He groaned, frustrated. “I am being so left out of everything, it is the worst! Just tell me from the beginning.”

{I am very sorry, Henrik,} Jameson said. {I suppose it never occurred to me. I hadn’t planned to have someone else along on this trip.} He sighed, and looked down. {There are many reasons why animal transformation is a dangerous magic, but many of them don’t matter once one has mastered the spell. But there’s still…a danger. If a magician…if someone…} He stopped, and gestured to Phantom.

Phantom continued the explanation. “If a human stays too long in an animal form, they will start to become more and more like the animal.” He looked down at Marvin, who’d stopped pacing and was now lying on the floor with his front paws on his head. “Right now, your friend here is a human mind in an animal body. But over time, his mind will change to be more animal-like, relying more on instinct and emotion and forgetting what he was like before.” He paused solemnly. “It’s a…troubling fate. Most would not wish it, though I know some magicians who have chosen to make the transformation permanent.”

{This is one of the reasons why transforming others instead of one’s self is strictly prohibited by most magical organizations,} Jameson said. {Because those without magic can’t turn themselves back, and are usually stuck as animals.}

Schneep couldn’t even say anything in response. “That is…” He looked down at Marvin, who’d moved his paws to cover his eyes. His tail swished wildly from side to side. “How…how long would we have?”

“The longest recorded time for the transformation is half a year,” Phantom said. “But on average, it’s about two or three months. You could technically transform someone back after this time period, but they…well, there’s significant mental change, let’s say.” He paused. “Jameson. There may not be magicians in this city, but there are all sorts of other entities. They’ve been attracted to the area for various reasons, and there’s been a significant increase in them in the last few years. If you wish to stay, one of them might be able to help you. I could help you look.”

Jameson slowly nodded. {That sounds like a fine idea. We’re already here, might as well try.} He looked over at Schneep and Marvin. {What about you two?}

“Might as well,” Schneep repeated, shrugging. Marvin uncovered his eyes and sat up, head bobbing in a quick, almost frantic, nod.

“Then let me give you a list of the ones I know about,” Phantom said. “And my phone number, so you can contact me without coming down here.”

A few minutes later, two men and a cat walked out of the shop. Jameson scanned the piece of paper he’d gotten from Phantom, then folded it up and put it in his pocket. {We’ll head back to the hotel for a short break,} he said, walking towards the taxi that was still waiting.

“Sounds like a good idea,” Schneep said. He started to head out, then paused, and looked around.

{What is it?} Jameson asked.

“Nothing, I just had…the strangest feeling,” Schneep mumbled. “Like the one where someone walks behind you, and you can just tell without turning around.”

Jameson scanned the area. It had quieted down a bit in the few minutes they’d been inside, but there were still a lot of people walking about. The closest ones were a group of young women sitting on a bench on the side of the road, and a street vendor selling food to a man in a bright yellow shirt and suspenders. {How odd,} Jameson said slowly. {Well, it’s probably nothing.} Still, he filed this away. {Let’s head back.}

The situation had grown more dire, but Jameson wasn’t about to give up on it. They still had time. They’d find someone else, and fix this entire situation. He wouldn’t let the worst come to pass.


	44. The Slow Progress of Plans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jameson continues to search for a way to unlock Marvin's magic, while taking care of some other business. At the same time, Anti continues to plot, and Jackie and Frederick look for Jameson.

Jameson waited at the taxi stand. The sky ahead was gray and gloomy, matching his mood perfectly.

They’d been in this city for a week. He’d hoped by now that the situation with Marvin would be resolved, but no such luck. Nobody—or rather, nothing—in this city could undo the lock on his magic. Granted, he’d only spoken to about five creatures so far: Three demons, a mad shadow, and a banshee. But the pattern so far was not encouraging. They either didn’t have the power, the knowledge, or both.

There was a small _ping_ in his pocket. Jameson frowned, and reached into his vest to get his phone. He’d gotten a new phone for Schneep a few days ago so they could keep in contact while they were separated in the city. And now he looked down to see a message from him: **Hey so if Marvin is a cat but is actually a human, can he eat foods that are bad for cats or is that not a good idea?**

Jameson frowned. That didn’t bode well. **He has a cat’s body, only his mind is human. So he shouldn’t be eating food that’s bad for cats, it will have the same effect on him as a normal cat. Why?**

 **No reason thank you.** That message was sent rather quickly…too quickly. Jameson felt his frown deepen with worry. He really had to head back to the hotel soon. But there was something he had to take care of first. He put his phone back in his vest, patting the pocket. The circle of his watch was easy to find through the fabric. Its ticking was slower than usual.

A taxi pulled up, and Jameson flagged it down. Climbing inside, he handed the driver a note with an address. It wasn’t too far, but traffic was heavy today, so it might take a while anyway. Hopefully not too long, though. He didn’t want the ticking to slow further.

The taxi dropped him off on a street corner. He paid the driver and stepped out, looking around. Some foot traffic, but not too much. The pedestrians looked busy, not bothering to pay attention to others. He started walking, scanning the people. Mostly couples and groups, but there were a few people walking by themselves. Jameson’s eyes locked onto one of these lone pedestrians, a man in a gray jacket, and he fell in line behind him.

He followed for a long while, until the other pedestrians started to thin out. Slowly, he gained on the man in the jacket, who was oblivious to what was happening. Until Jameson was right on his tail. Then the man glanced behind him, and slowed, ducking to the side to allow Jameson to pass by. Jameson smiled in thanks.

The cars were coming less and less frequently. Jameson timed his next move perfectly. As soon as the next car passed by, as soon as he was sure nobody was looking, he started to pass the man in the jacket. And then he took out his watch and flashed it in front of the man’s face, slamming him with a wall of mental force. For someone completely unprepared, without any training of mental fortitude, it was too strong to even think of resisting. The man’s eyes glazed over. Jameson grabbed his hand and pulled him into a gap between two alleyways.

Normally, he wouldn’t have used such a blunt attack on someone, due to how it could potentially damage the mind. Normally, he wouldn’t do this in an area as busy as this, and would instead lure the target away to somewhere more discreet. But this was different. This was a new city where he didn’t know the discreet areas. This area was the least-busy place he’d seen so far, so he’d work with it. As for the bluntness of the attack, well…he didn’t have to worry about future damage in this case.

Only a few minutes later, Jameson reemerged from the shadows of the alley. He lingered in the entrance, staring down at the watch in his hand. The face was dripping crimson liquid,coming from inside, dripping, dripping from the edges and the hands. The runes etched in the silver were traced with the same red. The ticking was loud and steady. Jameson’s face had a rosy tint to it that wasn’t there before.

He wrapped the watch in a bunch of tissues from his pants pocket, and shoved it back in his vest. Then calmly, he walked to the edge of the street and waved down another taxi.

While in the taxi, he received another text from Schneep. **Tea is bad for cats, yes?**

That was worrying. **Yes, it has caffeine, which is harmful to them. Henrik, you better not be giving Marvin anything.**

**IT WAS HIM NOT ME.**

Jameson inhaled sharply. **What happened.** A statement, not a question.

**It is fine, the problem has passed.**

**I am still not reassured. What happened.**

**I will tell you when you get back, but I promise it is fine.**

Well, it looked like he would have to hurry even more to get home. But he still had one more place to stop by. Hopefully, this last errand wouldn’t take too long.

The taxi dropped Jameson off at a pharmacy. He handed the driver a note asking to wait for a bit, then headed inside.

The pharmacy wasn’t much, just some shelves with generic medicines and a counter that separated the main store from a storage area that extended into the back. A single worker in a white coat was waiting in the single chair behind the counter. Really, why didn’t stores provide their employees with more places to sit? Sighing internally, Jameson walked up to the counter.

“Oh!” The pharmacist employee hurried to stand up. She smiled wide. “Welcome! Is there anything I can help you with?”

Jameson smiled back, and took out his notebook and a pencil. _Hello, I’m here to pick up a prescription?_

“I see, I see.” The worker nodded. “What’s the name?”

_Name of Jennings._

“Right, right.” She turned and went further into the back, rummaging through some drawers until she found what she was looking for. Then she returned, holding a small orange bottle. “Before I hand it over, I need to see your ID.”

 _Of course._ Jameson reached into his vest like he was looking for a wallet. But instead he pulled out his watch, and feigned surprise. He set it down on the counter, though still keeping hold of it. Naturally, the worker glanced at the watch, and the moment she did, Jameson started worming his way inside. Not too far, just enough to create a daze. As her eyes drifted out of focus, Jameson leaned forward and plucked the bottle from her grip. Then he broke off the connection. _Thank you,_ he wrote down.

“Huh?” The worker blinked. She seemed confused, but shook it off. “Oh yeah. Uh, no problem.” Her mind was already filling in the blank spot, assuming she did her job as usual.

Jameson tipped his hat to her, then left the pharmacy. The taxi was waiting outside, but he still wasn’t done. There happened to be a bakery-cafe two doors down from this pharmacy. Of course, that wasn’t a coincidence. Jameson had thought he’d be able to use this. He popped in, and soon reappeared outside holding a brown paper bag. Only then did he return to the taxi, handing the driver the hotel’s address.

Stepping into the hotel room, Jameson was immediately greeted by a ball of black fur latching onto his leg. He looked down, puzzled. {Hello, Marvin. You’re being oddly clingy.}

Marvin let out a long, whiny _mrooooooow._ His ears and tails were drooping. Jameson slowly closed the door behind himself. {What happened?}

“Ah, he is just being a whiny bitch baby.” Schneep was sitting at the room’s desk, playing on his phone as it charged. “I ordered coffee from the room service, but they accidentally brought tea. Marvin really wanted to drink it, but I was not too sure about that.”

{Well, that explains your messages, I suppose,} Jameson said. {What happened next?}

“I called room service to correct the mistake, and while I was waiting for them to arrive, I had to try and convince him to not put his face into the teacup.” Schneep glared down at Marvin. “Then they took it away and he has been upset ever since. I think he wants you to order tea for him now.”

Marvin stared up at Jameson with big eyes, swishing his tail. He was very cute, but Jameson wasn’t about to fall for it. {Caffeine is bad for cats, and you know it,} he scolded. {If you drink an entire cup, it’ll make you very sick.}

Upon not getting the response he wanted, Marvin’s ears suddenly flattened. He growled a bit, digging his claws into Jameson’s leg before trotting away to sit on the nearest chair.

Jameson shook his head, disappointed, and walked over to Schneep. {Oh by the way, I brought you something.} He set the paper bag onto the desk.

“Hmm?” Schneep put down his phone and looked inside the bag. His eyes lit up. “Oh! Treats!” He took out some smaller paper bags. “Are these brownies?”

{Exactly. I figured I’d stop by one of the local shops, see what they had to offer.} Jameson smiled. {Yours is the one with nuts. You do like them, right?}

“Jamie, please, how long have we known each other? Of course I like nuts.” Schneep picked up the paper bag and took out the brownie.

From the chair, Marvin let out a yowl that probably would’ve been a string of complaints, if he could talk.

{Yes, I know, Marvin,} Jameson huffed. {But bakeries don’t exactly sell food that’s safe for cats. The most they had was some bread. Which I did get a slice of, just in case.} He pushed one of the paper bags over to the edge of the desk. Marvin stared at it, then rolled over. {Well, if you insist. But I hear cats really like bread, for whatever reason.}

“Really? I was not aware of that,” Schneep said, fascinated.

{Yes, some people wonder if it’s because of yeast or nutrients or something else,} Jameson said.

“Hmm…someone should do some research on that, if they haven’t already.” Schneep leaned onto the desk, slowly eating his brownie.

{Is that good, by the way?} Jameson asked.

Schneep covered his mouth for a moment, chewing. “A bit crunchier than I was expecting. But yes. Eat yours, you are making me nervous, just watching.”

{Oh, sorry. Yes, I will, just one moment.} Jameson headed into the hotel bathroom, closing the door behind him. He waited for a bit, making sure that neither of the others were going to call him back, then turned to the room. Two days ago, he’d bought a little bag while out on the town, and he’d been using it to keep his toiletries in. But now there was something else.

He took the small orange bottle out of his pocket and slipped it into the bag, zipping it up. There. Schneep wouldn’t look in there, and Marvin couldn’t unzip it without a lot of effort. It would be safe. Though he did wonder how often he’d be able to slip the pills into Schneep’s food. Would they dissolve in liquid? That would make it easier. Still considering this, Jameson set the bag down exactly where it had been. He flushed the toilet and ran the sink before leaving the bathroom so neither of the others would suspect anything.

Upon seeing Jameson come out, Schneep asked, “So, was there any luck today?”

Jameson shook his head. He walked over to the desk and picked up the brownie, noticing that Schneep had already finished his. {No, no such thing, I’m afraid. I talked to another demon, she kept trying to convince me to make a deal because “you never know, maybe I will be able to do it with that extra boost.” Obviously, she was in it for the long con.}

Marvin made another low growling sound. Jameson glanced over to see he’d stolen the bread from off the desk, and was now tearing into it with his teeth and paws. {So much for not wanting it, then,} Jameson said, raising an eyebrow. Marvin didn’t bother to respond. Though it was hard to tell, Jameson wondered if he was trying to hide his worry about being stuck as a cat.

“Well, this is a long list, that Phantom gave you.” Schneep pointed at the list in question, a folded piece of paper with a line of handwritten names and locations. “There has to be some help on it, yes? Though I find it strange…” He pursed his lips. “None of these names are listed as magicians. You would think they would know the best approach to unlocking magic.”

{Perhaps magicians avoid this area,} Jameson suggested.

“Huh? Why?”

{Because of the large number of magical and supernatural entities. It’s been a while since I’ve been in the States, but last time I was, the magicians’ government tended to…overlook areas like that.}

“Of course there is one here, too,” Schneep muttered, nodding. “Like that group back home, the ah…ABIM.”

{Yes, they’re called the North American Magical Union. Or at least, they were the last I checked.}

“Odd…why would they avoid areas with large numbers of strange entities?”

Jameson shrugged. {They cover a much larger area than the ABIM does, I assume they have to be spread a little thin and determined some areas are best not to be bothered.}

“Interesting.” Schneep fell silent for a moment, then shoved the last of the brownie in his mouth and swallowed. “Well, perhaps if things get a little closer to the edge, we can leave the area and go looking for magicians.”

{Perhaps.} That would be a while, though. Hopefully. But the time limit still loomed in the back of his mind. After a couple months, Marvin would become less human, and more fully a cat. Turning him back after that was possible, but there would be…consequences. And difficulty. No, they had to turn him back before that happened.

How else would Jameson make up for what he did?

* * *

Jackie was slowly starting to realize there were both pros and cons to living with someone who was basically a magical detective.

Pro: cool magic shit. Finding out more about spells and this magical world was very fascinating, and Jackie couldn’t help but ask questions about every single magical thing Frederick mentioned.

Con: detective work was hard. Frederick had been searching almost nonstop for information about Jameson, and though he’d found records of his past crimes, there was nothing that could point to where he and Marvin were now.

Pro: this particular detective was…nice. Smart. Caring. Easy to talk to. Cool. Passionate. Honestly quite pretty, though Jackie would rather die than say that out loud.

Con: Jackie had no idea what to do about the fact that the more time he spent with Frederick, the more he really _really_ wanted to…well, he wasn’t sure of the specifics. Cuddle, maybe? To start with. But the point was that he had no clue how to approach the matter and honestly he wasn’t even sure if he really wanted to.

Jackie was hanging out in the living room—the more he lived here, the more it was starting to feel like his house and not just a place to stay—looking through the books Frederick had to see if any would interest him. It was evening, and the sun outside had well and truly set when the front door opened and Frederick walked inside. Jackie immediately looked up. “Hey.”

“Hi. How’ve things been here?” Frederick leaned against the wall by the door, not bothering to take off his black coat.

“Alright, I guess,” Jackie said. “What about you? Did you figure anything out?”

“Uh…yeah.”

That caused Jackie to look away from the book he was holding. Frederick sounded oddly…reluctant. “Well, uh, what is it?”

“Okay, so.” Frederick was tapping a nervous rhythm on his arm. “I figured we could try another tracking spell.”

“But I thought you said they weren’t working,” Jackie said, confused.

“Yeah, no, most of them didn’t. But that might have been because they didn’t have a big enough range. So I started looking up more powerful ones, and then Mitchell—he’s one of the librarians—mentioned that there is one that could work. But there were a few catches.”

Jackie nodded. “Okay…”

Frederick paused, then went forward. “One catch is that it needs multiple magicians to pull off. So we’d have to enlist the help of a couple different people. Another is that, if Marvin’s still stuck in that cat form, it won’t actually work on him.”

“What? Why not?” Jackie asked.

“I don’t know, I’m no expert on animal transformation,” Frederick sighed. “It’s something like…it only works on humans or something, and even though a magician in animal form is still _technically_ human, it won’t pick up on them. But I figured we could at least use it to find Jameson, and hopefully if Marvin’s not with him, we could get information.”

“That makes sense.” Jackie nodded again. “And the third one is?”

Frederick looked mildly surprised. “How’d you know there’s a third one?”

“I dunno, a guess. People don’t usually say ‘a few’ to describe only two things. And you said ‘another’ catch, not like, ‘the other’ catch, which also implies more than two.”

“Huh.” Frederick smiled a bit. “Y’know you could’ve been a detective.”

“Well, I tried to be a cop, but then I realized they sucked,” Jackie said. “Anyway, what’s the next catch?”

Frederick shifted on his feet, nervous. “Well…it works by drawing on memories of the person you’re seeking. I only really met Jameson one time, and apparently that’s not enough to use. I could ask Yvonne, but I, uh…don’t want to make her relive that, you know? Not until she’s ready.” He paused. “But, um, you knew Jameson for a long time. So…you’d have to help.”

Jackie thought about this. “Well…I’ve been helping you anyway. I looked through all the library stuff with you, if you’re saying I can help, I will.”

“Okay, but here’s the thing,” Frederick persisted. “They actually have to go into your mind and extract your memories. Which is…” He trailed off, reluctant to say it.

Jackie felt nerves starting to crawl up his stomach. “Which is what?”

“It’s not _painful,_ ” Frederick said slowly. “But it’s…uncomfortable. And lasts a while.”

That short, vague explanation didn’t exactly help Jackie’s nerves. “Uncomfortable how?”

“I don’t know, Mitchell wouldn’t describe it anymore. But he did recommend a group that’s been doing this sort of spell for ABIM agents for years now. They’re very reliable.” Frederick stopped for a moment, noticing the way Jackie was fidgeting nervously with the book he was holding. “Of course, if you don’t want to, you don’t have to. I can always find another spell. It’s not really important enough to risk it if you’re not up for it.”

Jackie took a deep breath. “No, I-I can do it.”

Frederick gave him a doubtful look. “Are you sure?”

“Yes.” Jackie squared his shoulders, doing his best to encourage himself. “I mean, it sounds like it’s our best shot, you know? I think we should do this as soon as possible, before Jameson or Marvin can try anything.” Besides, he felt like…he owed it to someone to do this. To himself, maybe. He’d done a lot of bad things in the past, things he was only realizing now were not the way to go about it. So maybe this could be one of the things he did to make up for that.

“Alright, if you’re sure.” Frederick paused. “Okay, and here’s the final catch. Uh,apparently this magic group is in town for only until tonight, and tomorrow they’re moving across the country. So we have to go now.”

“Wait, now?! Like, _right now_ now?”

“Yes, like right now now,” Frederick mumbled. “Um…sorry.”

Jackie put the book down. So now he understood why Frederick was standing near the door with his coat still on. “Alright, I-I can still do that. Just let me find my hoodie.”

“You’re sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure!” Jackie headed down the hall to his room—no, the guest room. He still didn’t officially live here. “Just hang on, magic detective!”

He heard Frederick laugh a bit. The sound made his stomach feel oddly jumpy. “Alright, then. I’ll be in the car.”

Jackie felt his face heating up. The moment he found his hoodie, he bundled it up and screamed into it. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d had so many conflicting emotions. There was that bundle of nerves and anxiety, but also something warm that appeared whenever he talked to Frederick. Having the two of them exist together was not helping anything.

He took a deep breath, and headed out. At least he could deal with the anxiety first by hurrying to do this.

* * *

One week.

Jameson, Marvin, and Schneep had been in the city for one week. But Anti had found them on the second day. He’d been watching them for five days.

It wasn’t difficult. Large cities like Los Angeles were hubs of the digital and electrical network. Anti could do hundreds of sweeps of the city in a day. So he easily found the hotel the group was staying in and managed to track them as they traveled throughout the city. It seemed Jameson was asking for advice from various magical creatures that lived in the area. Advice about how to unlock a magic seal. Because of course he was. Of course he wanted to unlock Marvin’s magic and cause a whole bunch of trouble.

For now, it looked as though Jameson had retreated to the hotel. So Anti decided to retreat as well. Retreat and take a break. Perhaps he could finally figure out what to do about this situation.

Of course, planning was a bit difficult in this environment.

“You’re looking a little down, there, bud. You should take it easy, you know? Have a little fun.”

Anti scowled. He was standing in the corner of the room, static buzzing, only about half-solid. The lights were off, and the TV in the room was showing nothing but white noise. Most of the residents of the House would’ve been creeped out by the environment, and therefore avoided the room, which was exactly his intention. Though the House had its fair share of odd occupants that wouldn’t care, such as the voice he was now hearing. He didn’t bother to look in the voice’s direction to respond. “I’m busy.”

“Oh, busy, busy, everyone is busy. You used to be a lot more wild, friend. Now? Hey, have I ever told you this story about this detective I knew—”

“Yes, you have. A lot.” Anti gave up on ignoring him and whirled around. “Look, do you have anything better to do, pinky?”

There was a man lounging casually on the room’s sofa. He looked an awful lot like Dark, except for the fact that his mustache was pink and his clothes were a lot brighter, in yellow and pink. “Oh, not really,” he drawled casually. “Anyway, I don’t remember telling you the story, but if I have, there’s no reason to repeat myself. The point being that you remind me a lot of that detective, the way you are right now. Too caught up in the little things.”

Anti rolled his eyes. “I’d say this is more than a little thing.”

“Well, you’re just sort of standing in the corner and pulling a Blair Witch on us, aren’t you?”

“I’m _plotting_ ,” Anti stressed. “Plotting a way to stop a hypnotist from unleashing Void magic, and then stop him from the fucked-up hypnotism altogether.”

“Yes, well, all I’m saying is you were a lot more laid-back back in the day. When was that? 19…50. 60. 65.”

“The 80’s,” Anti corrected. “And it’s different. I have a host again, I need to look out for him. I can’t afford to be dicking around with you and your television show.”

“Hey!” He wagged a finger at Anti. “Don’t say anything about WWTV. It’s a program that’s still running today! I mean, we changed the name, but—”

“What are you two doing in here?”

Anti glanced over at the room’s doorway. At some point, Dark had appeared. Today they were wearing their feminine appearance, rather than the usual male one that looked like Jack’s friend Mark. “I’m trying to find a quiet place to plan. He just sort of appeared here and started annoying me.”

“Ah, that’s my specialty, you know!” He winked.

Dark rolled her eyes fondly. “You really shouldn’t bug Anti, though. He could stab you.”

“Well I’ll stab him back, then, it’s no big deal. I still have my tickle knife.”

Dark chuckled, but then fell silent upon noticing the dark expression on Anti’s face. “Well, I suppose I should say it.” She folded her hands on top of her cane. “You’ve been trying to come up with a plan for a while. I understand that you’re an observer and a plotter, but if this matter really is as urgent as you’ve told us, I expected you to have done something by now.”

Anti didn’t say anything for a while. The white noise from the TV filled the room. “It’s always better to be prepared,” he finally said.

“Yes, but preparation is nothing if you don’t act,” Dark emphasized. “Is there a reason for this? Beyond just the need for a plan.”

Anti sighed slowly. “You know about these things being complicated,” he says, voice almost drowned out by the white noise.

“You mean, the situation you’re in? How you’re dealing with someone you once cared deeply about?” Dark tilted her head. “Yes, I suppose I do. But you can’t delay it forever.”

“I know, I know,” Anti muttered. “Especially if he’s planning to unseal the Void’s magic. After I did so much to lock it in the first place.” He folded his arms. “You know, you had a couple decades—or about, hard to tell given the way time breaks around you two—to get used to this idea. I didn’t realize Jameson was still alive until he hypnotized Jack.”

“Have you considered getting someone else to do it?” Dark suggested.

“Are you offering?”

“Well, I’d owe you a favor, but I wouldn’t mind.”

Anti considered this for less than a second. Then shook his head. “No, I need to do this myself. Who knows? If I hadn’t left, maybe things wouldn’t have turned out this way.”

“Ah, I see.” Dark paused. “I thought you didn’t feel regret, Anti.”

“For most things. But things that happened with my hosts…have always been an exception.”

“Are you two going to have a college ethics class right in front of me?” The man lying on the sofa asked.

“Wil, you’re welcome to leave at any time,” Dark reminded him.

Anti rolled his eyes, and decided to ignore him. “Anyway, I’m not gonna let it hold me back when the time comes. But for now, they aren’t really making any progress, so there’s no rush.”

Dark nodded. “Alright, if you insist. Just make sure that it, indeed, doesn’t hold you back. Having sentimental feelings is alright, and understandable. But when it comes to matters like this, something needs to be done. We’re always open to help.”

“I understand, okay?” Anti insisted. “Now can you two please go so I can plot in peace?”

There was an expression in Dark’s eyes that couldn’t quite be described. Something like sympathy, or maybe empathy, mixed with something like uncertainty. “If you insist,” Dark repeats slowly. “I hope you can…sort this all out.” The way she said it, she wasn’t just talking about Anti’s current planning session. But she spun on her heel and headed out. “Wil, weren’t you planning to do something with the twins today?” she asked as she passed him.

“Was I? Oh, well, might as well stop by their room just in case.” Wil stretched lazily and sat up. Anti looked away for a split second, and when he looked back, the man was no longer there.

“You two can be real annoying, you know that?” Anti said to the empty room. Nobody answered, of course, but he wasn’t entirely sure nobody heard. Not when the House was the way it was.

But of course, Dark was right. He needed to act sooner or later. Throughout the past two years, ever since Jack had been taken, he’d deliberately avoided most situations that would lead to a direct conflict with Jameson. Sure, he’d talked with him, had these…exchanges with him. But never done something that would lead to an outright fight with him. It wasn’t because Jameson was particularly strong—he had his strengths, but Anti was sure he’d be able to best him in a physical fight. So…why?

Anti knew the answer. It was just hard to put it into words. But a conflict was coming sooner or later. He couldn’t avoid the situation forever. Maybe if he kept thinking, perhaps he’d find a plan where he wouldn’t need to confront Jameson directly. Maybe.

And so he returned to his planning, for all the good it would do for him.

* * *

A car pulled to the side of the street and parked. Not an unusual sight, but if anyone had known there was a magician and a former vigilante inside the car, on the way to get help from more magicians in casting a spell to find a pair of magical criminals, they would have paid more attention to it. The car had stopped in a residential area, lined with quaint houses, no more than one or two stories each. The moon overhead was a crescent smiling down on the land below.

“Alright, this is the address,” Frederick said, turning off the car. “How are you doing?”

“Um…fine.” Jackie looked out the window at the house. It wasn’t particularly intimidating. But that wasn’t particularly helpful. He knew appearances could be deceiving, after all. His hand reached up and started tugging on the end of his hair, playing with it.

“Hey.” Frederick leaned over. “I know you’re nervous.”

“How can you tell?” Jackie blurted out.

Frederick smiled softly. “Your hair. I mean, you play with it a lot, but you only really pull on it when you’re feeling anxious somehow.”

“O-oh. You, uh…noticed that.” That was actually amazing. They hadn’t really known each other that long, but he’d picked up on that. Well, Jackie had also noticed the patterns Frederick drummed when _he_ was feeling nervous. They were a bit faster than any other time.

“Yeah. Anyway, we really don’t have to. We can go back.”

“No, we _have_ to,” Jackie insisted. “I mean, this is the easiest way to find them, right?” He tried a laugh. “Besides, after living through several black magic burnings, I’m sure I can handle some discomfort.”

Frederick laughed a bit as well. “Okay, if you’re sure.” He paused. Then he set his hand down on top of Jackie’s. His left, the one that was still skin and bone. Jackie inhaled sharply at the contact. “It’s going to be okay, you know. These guys are professionals. And if anything starts to go wrong, I’ll stop them.”

Jackie couldn’t find the words for a moment, and could only nod. His eyes met Frederick’s, which were warm, dark, and reassuring. For a moment, Jackie really wanted to say…something. He wasn’t sure what, just…something. So without thinking, he said, “Thank you.”

Frederick blinked. “For what?”

“For, uh, I don’t—I don’t know, just…letting me help, I guess,” Jackie stammered. “I mean, I’m not…the greatest person, and not everyone would let me do this.”

“Well, you’re working on it,” Frederick said. “You’re getting there, you know?” He chuckled. “Though, I will say, I know some others in the ABIM who wouldn’t be so forgiving.”

“Yeah, I know, I—that’s why I’m saying thank you.”

“You’re welcome, then.”

It must’ve been just a few seconds that they stayed in the car, not saying anything. Jackie almost wished that they could just stay there for as long as possible. But eventually, he broke the contact, pulling his hand away. “Right, let’s…let’s go.”

“Right.” Frederick nodded, looking away. “It’s just this house up here.”

“Right.” Jackie unbuckled his seat belt and stepped outside. The air felt cold on his face as he slowly exhaled.

Things were always complicated these days. He almost missed the more simple times just a few months ago. Almost. He did think that this situation was better, as a whole. But…he wasn’t good with complicated things. He was a simple man, with simple approaches to problems. Dealing with these situations and feelings wasn’t easy for him.

He breathed in again. Well, he wasn’t one to walk away from problems, either. Not that anything about this was a problem. Just…complicated. But he could figure it out. It might take some time and a lot of effort, but he could figure it out.

And so with that in mind, he turned to follow Frederick. Things could start here. One step at a time.


	45. Lost and Found

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jackie and Frederick finally have a way of locating Jameson. But in the meantime, Jameson thinks he's finally found something that could help Marvin. And Anti? He's remembering something.

A small two-story house sat on a street, built and decorated just like every other house on the street. If you didn’t know, you wouldn’t realize that a group of magicians was currently meeting inside, or that a vigilante and the magical equivalent of a detective were asking for their help.

The first room of the house was a large living room, decorated simply, but elegantly. Two sofas were pushed against opposite walls, the spaces in between them taken up by armchairs and coffee tables. A couple abstract paintings hung on the walls. The whole area had a yellow and gold color scheme, with just enough darker browns to make it homey and comfortable instead of bright and eye-catching.

Jackie sat on one of the sofas, scuffing his shoes against the carpet as he waited. There was a tray of fudge on the nearest coffee table. He’d taken one and tried it, but the piece was hard and crumbly from being left out so he awkwardly abandoned it in the nearest trash can. But his nerves were filling him with anxious energy, to the point where he was considering taking another piece just to have something to do.

While Jackie considered this, Frederick talked with another magician, both of them standing in the doorway leading to the house’s hallway. The other magician was wearing a long black cloak, listening intently as Frederick explained the situation.

“—It’s very urgent that we find these two,” Frederick was saying, “and we think the only way to track them is one of the Circle’s group spells.”

The magician nodded. “Yes, spells cast in groups are more powerful. Can we expect compensation from the Association?”

“Of course,” Frederick assured him.

“Then I suppose we can do so,” the magician said, grinning. “You’re lucky you found us tonight. We were about to move our headquarters.”

“I know.”

The magician stepped out into the hallway. “Let me go notify the others. I’ll be back shortly.” And he disappeared down the corridor.

Frederick watched him, then turned around to look at Jackie. “So it’s going well.”

Jackie chuckled a bit. “That’s good.”

Frederick walked over and sat next to Jackie on the sofa, who tried very hard not to react at how close he suddenly was. He didn’t have to sit right next to him, did he? There was a lot of room on the couch. Well, he was probably just doing so because they were friends. “So…how are you doing?” Frederick asked. “Still nervous?”

“Yeah.” Jackie nodded, staring straight ahead out the window.

“Castillo and the Magic Circle know what they’re doing,” Frederick reassured him. “And if something starts to go wrong, they’ll recognize it.”

Jackie winced, looking at him. “Let’s not discuss the possibility of things going wrong, okay?”

Frederick winced as well. “Right. Probably a bad sign. In that case, nothing will go wrong at all.”

“God, that’s also gonna jinx it.”

“We can’t go anywhere with luck!” Frederick threw his hands in the air, mockingly exasperated. “We should just sit here in silence and not say anything about it.”

Jackie burst into laughter. “Yes, yes tha-that’s the approach. Just sit there and _never say anything._ That’s how I get through life.”

Frederick laughed. It soon faded. “But really, it will be fine. If something happens, I’ll be there.”

Feeling his face grow hot, Jackie nodded, turning his head away. “Yeah. Uh…thanks.”

Just then, footsteps came from down the hall. The magician, Castillo, reappeared in the doorway. “Alright, follow me.”

Frederick gave Jackie a smile and stood up. “Right. Let’s go.”

“Right.” Jackie got to his feet. “I hope—AAH!” Suddenly he flinched, momentarily losing his balance. He stumbled and almost fell, but collapsed onto Frederick instead, who did his best to steady him.

“What happened? What’s wrong?!” Frederick gasped.

“It’s fine, it’s nothing.” Jackie inhaled sharply through his teeth. “Just some, uh…residual pain from the burns. Sometimes that happens when I stand up.”

“Ah.” Frederick nodded. “They suck, don’t they?”

“Yeah.” Jackie took a deep breath, and stood up straight. Frederick kept his hand on his shoulder…probably just in case he fell again and for no other reason. “I’m good, though. They go fast.”

“If you’re sure…” Frederick looked reluctant to move on, but Castillo was still waiting in the doorway, so they headed out to follow him.

The hallway was quite long, black and white tiles on the ground like a checkerboard. At the end of it was a stairway, the steps wide and covered with a dark carpet. Castillo led Jackie and Frederick up the stairs to the second floor, which turned out to be entirely open, a single large room. A large circle was drawn on the wooden floor with salt, a smaller circle inside the center. There was a small doorway that was open to reveal a closet stacked with all sorts of materials. About a dozen people were standing around the area, all wearing black cloaks with the hoods pulled up. Though to be honest, the mystical, slightly creepy vibes were a bit ruined when Jackie noticed a lot of them hurriedly putting their phones away.

“This is our branch of the Magic Circle in its entirety,” Castillo said, making a sweeping motion with his arms. “Circle, this is Frederick Chiu and Jackie Parker. They need our assistance with tracking someone.”

“Someone dangerous?” One of the magicians asked.

“Well, obviously, why else do the ABIM people come to us?” Another scoffed in response.

“So what tracker are we using?” A third asked, ignoring the other two.

Castillo turned to Frederick. “I’m assuming you want the Quaere Mnemona, correct?”

“Yes,” Frederick answered. “Is that a problem?”

“No, not at all,” Castillo said, though a couple of the magicians grumbled a bit. “We’ll just need to get preparations ready. Which one of you is the memory giver?”

“Um, that would be me,” Jackie said, raising his hand awkwardly.

“Alright.” Castillo turned to the magicians. “Diana, please get a chair. James, Ursula, Ren, get the candles and the map. Everyone else, help with the symbols.”

The magicians went about their tasks. One of them returned with a chair, which she sent in the middle of the center circle. Jackie looked at it, then glanced at Frederick, who nodded reassuringly. Taking a deep breath, he stepped over the inner salt circle and sat down on the edge of the chair, bunching up the fabric of his pants. Soon other magicians returned with blue candles and more salt. One handed Jackie an old paper map, the world’s continents laid out on it. “You’ll need to hold onto that through the whole ceremony,” they said quickly. Jackie quickly scanned it, then looked back up to watch the magicians draw symbols around the edges of the circles with the salt. It was pretty impressive how intricate they were able to make them.

“Alright, everyone on the outside,” Castillo said, causing all the other magicians to hurry to the outside of the circle. “How are you feeling Mr. Parker?”

“Um…nervous,” Jackie admitted. “Hey, so uh, Frederick told me that this would be uncomfortable. Wha-what exactly does that mean?”

“Ah. It’ll be a sort of headache, and a bit like the rest of your body has fallen asleep,” Castillo explained. “Is that a problem?”

“No.” Jackie took a deep breath, and swallowed down his anxiety. “Let’s just hurry and do it, okay?”

“Okay.” Castillo nodded. “Just focus on your memories of the person you’re looking for.”

“You’re okay, Jackie?” Frederick asked.

“Fine so far.” Jackie gave him a thumbs up. “That may be subject to change.”

“Mr. Chiu, please step back from the edge of the circle,” Castillo said. Frederick shuffled back, looking a bit worried. “Everyone! Take your places!”

The magicians hurried to what looked like designated spots on the edge of the circle, all of them equal distance from each other. Jackie’s head moved on a swivel, feeling more than uneasy in the middle of this circle. “The lights, please,” Castillo said. One of them flicked off the light switch, leaving the room only lit by the candle flames around the edges. Jackie inhaled sharply.

“Stin queari maas, mazi’vó mast aey,” a voice intoned.

The others repeated it. “Stin queari maas, mazi’vó mast aey.”

Then at once, the circle started chanting all at once. After just a few phrases, they broke into two different parts, speaking different words that somehow matched each other perfectly. All around the circle, the magicians’ eyes lit up, glowing softly in various colors. And slowly, the glowing all turned to a deep, rich blue. Strands of magic drifted through the air, going over Jackie’s head and forming a dome-shaped web. He felt his breath tearing quickly in his throat, and took a moment to calm down, squeezing the map in his hands. All he needed to do was focus on his memories of Jameson. If he didn’t do that, the spell wouldn’t work.

The magic in the center started dripping down. It was a bit creepy, but beautiful. Jackie kept his head craned upward as he watched it weave down to touch the salt circle around him. The steady chanting of the magicians started growing louder. The blue of the magic started growing lighter, to a sky blue.

Jackie shivered. A cold feeling ran down his spine, like ice water being poured down his shirt. The coldness spread throughout his body, quickly followed by an intense pins and needles feeling. “Ah!” He gasped at the sensation. Was it just him, or was the magic and the people behind it starting to swim in the air.

The pitch of the chant shifted higher as the chant grew steadily louder. Jackie listed a bit to the side before regaining his balance and shaking his head. Images were flashing behind his eyes. Meeting Jameson for the first time, Jameson helping him cook for Christmas, Marvin and Jameson playing video games together in the living room. Those were all very nice, but then they started to shift. That time Jackie walked in on Jameson and Jack, with Jameson holding his watch and Jack’s eyes looking fairly glazed. One day when he visited Jameson’s office space, finding it empty except for this creepy secretary who ushered him out just before he could’ve sworn he heard a scream. Reading through that creepy file in the magical archives detailing Jameson’s various messed up crimes. And ending with the moment Chase blew up at Jameson shortly after getting Schneep back, before the three of them left. He hadn’t seen Jameson since.

After a moment, Jackie realized that the chanting had stopped, replaced by just one voice. He also realized that he’d closed his eyes one he opened them. The lights in the room were back on, and his vision was oddly blurry, so he blinked a bit to clear things up.

“…ackie? You’re okay, right?! Say something!”

His vision settled, and Jackie gasped slightly. Frederick was really close to him, their faces especially close, staring at him with a look of concern in his deep dark eyes. “You’re alright, right?” he asked in a stressed voice.

Jackie nodded. “Y…yeah, I think I just…think I just blacked out a bit.” He glanced around. The magicians had left their spots and were milling about the room. One had a dustpan and broom and had started to sweep up the salt. He looked down at his lap, and saw that the map he’d been holding now had a large red dot on it, specifically on the western coast of North America. “So…it worked?”

“Yeah, I guess.” Frederick exhaled, and leaned back. It was then that Jackie noticed Frederick’s hands were gripping his upper arms, and they weren’t letting go. “How do you feel?”

“Uh…well, they were right about the headache.” Jackie squinted. The light was making it worse. “I feel like someone is like—you know those stone cutter guys who just sit in one space and hammer at a chisel all day? One of them is doing that to my head.”

Frederick laughed, a loud, light sound. “Ah, that sucks. But you’re good to stand up?”

“Yeah.” Jackie pushed himself to his feet, causing Frederick to let go of him and step back. He stumbled for a bit, but quickly regained his balance. “Now we have…a map.”

“Can I see it?” Frederick asked. Jackie handed it to him, and he immediately noticed the small red dot. Poking it with a single finger, he muttered, “Ap’kýlip,” and small red letters appeared. An address. Specifically, an address in—“Los Angeles. Well, they certainly went far.”

“How’d you do that?” Jackie asked, impressed.

“It’s a simple command.” Castillo jumped in, appearing nearby. “The great thing about the Quaere Mnemona, it continues to track its target no matter where they move. So you can use the command to get more specifics if they suddenly jump town. Unless they enter a powerfully protected building, of course.”

Frederick nodded absentmindedly. Then he folded the map, placed it in his coat pocket, and then turned to Castillo. “Well, thank you for your help. The Association will send you appropriate payment.”

“They better!” One of the magicians shouted.

Castillo chuckled. “Well, always happy to help. Do you need me to show you out?”

“No, we can find our way. Jackie, c’mon.” Frederick grabbed Jackie’s hand—who immediately started turning red in response—and the two of them left, going down the stairs and through the hall until they arrived at the house’s front door. At which point, Frederick turned to Jackie again. “Now are you sure you’re fine?”

“Yeah, I’m sure.” Jackie nodded. “I mean…yeah, my fucking head’s being split open, but otherwise.”

Frederick chuckled. “Alright, just let me know if you need anything.”

“I will.” Jackie glanced down at his hand, which Frederick was still holding. This was…a thing. It was fine, it was fine, this was a thing people did when they were friendly. But his stomach was still fluttering with butterflies, so he changed the subject. “So…do you have to go to Los Angeles now?”

“Yeah, I guess. We’ll have to do some preparing, but then—”

“We?” Jackie repeated in surprise.

“Well, yeah.” Frederick looked at him and nodded. “I mean, if you don’t want to, you don’t have to. But I could use a partner, and I don’t know if Yvonne will be up to going after Jameson. She wants to spend more time with Heather, anyway. So…do you want to come?”

“Y-yeah, of course.” Jackie nodded too. Why was he nodding? This was weird. He stopped nodding. “I, uh…really appreciate you asking me for help with stuff like this. It’s like…I-I-I appreciate the, uh, trust.”

“Well, now that I know you’re not going to murder criminals in an alley, you’re pretty good at this sort of stuff,” Frederick grinned.

“Haha. Right.” Jackie reached out and pushed open the door. “So I guess we’ll just go back now. Prepare and shit.”

“Yeah, let’s go home.”

They walked back to the car. And though Jackie knew that he probably should be thinking about what would happen in Los Angeles, once they found Jameson and Marvin…he couldn’t help but notice that Frederick kept holding his hand all the way back.

* * *

The setting sun was shining directly through the hotel window. Marvin was splayed out on the bed in a pool of sunlight, soaking it up. Schneep was sitting at the desk, which he’d basically claimed for himself at this point, staring down at its surface. The two of them were quiet. Then Jameson threw open the hotel door. {I’m back!}

Marvin jumped, and turned to glare at Jameson. A small growl escaped his throat.

{Sorry,} Jameson projected, easing the door closed behind him. {But I might have actually found something!}

Immediately, Marvin stopped growling. He stood up, twirled around so that he was facing Jameson, and sat down again. He waved his paw as if to say “go on.”

Jameson sat down in the nearby armchair. {I met up with an algea today. They’re not very common creatures, I was surprised to see one on Phantom’s list. Not very well-known, either. Some say they’re descendants of minor goddesses from Greek mythology.} He shook his head. {Apologies, that was a tangent. Anyway, the algea told me there was a place out of town where many powerful creatures and anomalies live or stay temporarily. Supposedly, one there might have the expertise we need, if we can find this place.}

 _Mrowww?_ Marvin tilted his head.

{Well…} Jameson clasped his hands. {Apparently this place has strong magical protection. There are few ways to get there. It has to let itself be found, and it only does that for people who have real need of it. Even if we get the address, we could end up wandering in circles anyway.}

Marvin flicked his tail irritably. He settled down on the bed again, ears flattened and eyes narrowed.

{We’ll find some way,} Jameson said encouragingly. {Perhaps we could get help tearing away these defenses.} He looked over at Schneep. {Right, Henrik?}

“Hmm?” Schneep didn’t look over at him.

Jameson frowned. {Are you alright? You’ve been awfully quiet.} He couldn’t help but notice that Schneep hadn’t _moved_ much, either.

“Yes, I am…fine,” Schneep said slowly. “It is just…”

{Just what?} Jameson hesitated. Then he reached out and prodded at Schneep’s mind with his own. Nothing too fancy, just a quick glance at its state. 

“I am fine,” Schneep repeated. “I just feel a little jittery.”

{Jittery?} Jameson withdrew his probe. His quick glance at Schneep’s mind revealed a lot of excess energy, almost jumpy.

“Look at this.” Schneep held up his arm. His hand was trembling slightly. “I am not doing that, it is just shaking. Am I getting sick? Well, I think I would know, I am the best doctor, but still…I am not sure what could cause this.”

{Perhaps you should do some research on your own time,} Jameson suggested. {But for now, did you catch anything that I said?}

“Yes, that there is a place where there might be someone who could help Marvin,” Schneep summed up. “But we cannot find it.”

{We may be able to,} Jameson corrected. {Or at least, we can definitely find the address. This place has a website, apparently, though it’s hard to find.}

“Ah. Well, give me the name of it, I will do some searching.” Schneep pulled out his phone and opened up his browser.

{Actually, I’m not so sure,} Jameson admitted. {The algea only called it “the house.” He implied that was the name, but it’s not very specific, is it?}

Schneep frowned, clearly agreeing. Still, he typed the phrase into the search bar. “Does this helpful tip-giver have a name or are we just going to call them an algae the whole time?”

{Algea,} Jameson corrected. {And unfortunately, I don’t know his name. When Phantom gave me the list, this one has the spot for the name left blank. Most likely intentionally, but I haven’t the foggiest why.}

“Unusual, unusual,” Schneep said absentmindedly. His head twitched slightly.

Jameson watched him, frowning. What was wrong with him? Could it be…a side effect? For a moment, he considered stopping with the medication. But then he asked, {Henrik, have you seen anything…strange lately?}

Schneep looked up. “Strange like what?”

{Oh, you know. People in the room who shouldn’t be here. Like your nurse, for example.}

“My nurse is always supposed to be here,” Schneep said, oddly defensive at first. Then he sighed, and looked away. “But no, I have not seen her. Not since I was arrested and put in that…place.” He made a small expression when saying that word, something in between disgust and anxiety. “I was wondering if she and the others would reappear once I left, but no.”

{I see. That’s too bad.} Jameson settled back into his chair. Well, if those symptoms were being successfully dealt with, he didn’t see any reason to stop. {Perhaps she’ll show up again,} he projected, pushing a little to make sure Schneep dropped the subject.

“Perhaps.” Schneep put down his phone. “Ugh, I need to do something else. I think I have been sitting in this chair for hours.” Marvin nodded, confirming that theory.

{Should we go out to dinner?} Jameson suggested. {All of us. I’m sure I can convince a restaurant to let a cat in.}

Marvin jumped to his feet. His tail shot up straight and started quivering with excitement. A few chittering noises came from his mouth.

Schneep laughed. “Well, if Marvin is that ready to go, I say we do.”

{Excellent! Let’s see if we can find a place we can all go to.}

And with that, the topic was quickly forgotten, just as Jameson had wanted.

* * *

_Two men stood on a street corner. It was raining, and one held an umbrella over both of them. He was also attempting to wave down a taxicab from the traffic on the street._

_A car skirted too close to the sidewalk, running right through a puddle. Quickly, the man lowered the umbrella to shield the two of them from the splash, then popped it back up again. “Sorry,” the man muttered._

_The other one nodded. The pair looked almost identical, brown-haired and blue-eyed. Even the clothing was similar, though the one with the umbrella was wearing darker colors. There were only two differences: the umbrella-wielder had a white eye-patch over his right eye, and the other one had a neat, defined mustache._

_“What was this for, again?” The eye-patch one asked. “It seems like a lot of trouble.”_

_It was a while before the other one replied. He looked down at the object he was holding tight to his chest: a thick leather-bound book. After a few seconds, he handed the book to his friend, freeing his hands so he could sign._ This book.

_“Hmm?” His friend looked down. “Another magic book? You didn’t need to go all the way out of town for that, JJ.”_

I know I didn’t need to, but I wanted to, _JJ explained._ I’ve already explored all the local shops. Cherry was heading out, and she let me tag along. He looked around the street. Though she did say she would wait and give me a ride back.

 _“She’s not really…anywhere nearby,” his friend said slowly_.

She probably just forgot again, _JJ said forgivingly._

_“Again?”_

Yes, she’s very forgetful. I think she gets caught up in the moment. The last time she left me behind, I waited for thirty minutes before having to go into the studio. Traffic was bad, though. Mr. Mavers was pretty upset that I was twenty minutes late.

_His friend frowned, but said nothing. “So what are you looking for in this book? Just curiosity?” JJ looked embarrassed, so his friend smiled lightly. “Of course, there’s nothing wrong with curiosity. I wouldn’t have found you if you hadn’t been curious about that summoning spell.”_

_JJ returned the smile._ That’s very true. _He exhaled softly, a laugh without sound_. Yes, curiosity. The shopkeeper said this book had a way to transmit thoughts like radio waves through the air.

_Anti raised an eyebrow. “Radio waves, you say?” A faint humming, barely audible through the rain, travelled through the air._

_JJ laughed silently again._ Exactly, but instead of sound, it transmits thoughts. I think that would be helpful for strangers, yes?

_“Yes, you’ve got a point.” Anti handed the book back to JJ and returned his attention to trying to catch a taxicab. “I still say more people should learn to speak with their hands.”_

_All JJ did was shrug. He watched as a taxicab finally noticed the two of them, slowing down to catch them. They climbed inside, and Anti gave the address and fare to the driver. JJ looked out the window._ Anti, I never did thank you for coming to find me, he said after a while. So thank you.

_Anti flashed a smile. “It wasn’t an issue. The moment I realized you were late, I had to at least check on you.” He shrugged. “Besides, I get faster the more electricity you all use.”_

That’s true, _JJ admitted._ But still. You didn’t have to.

_“Yes I did.”_

_At that, JJ ducked down, somehow embarrassed. He wasn’t used to hearing things like that._

_As the taxicab rattled through the rainy streets, JJ opened the book and started reading through the index. He ran his fingers along the edges of the thick pages. Anti glanced over at the writing on the page, vaguely recognizing some of the spells but not caring too much to identify them further. JJ knew what he was doing; he didn’t have anything to worry about._

* * *

“What are you doing?”

Anti snapped back to the present. Blinking rapidly, he leaned back from the TV screen in an effort to distance himself from the images on the screen. He looked over to the door, now open and with a man in a blue shirt standing inside. “I’m reviewing memories,” Anti said simply. It was easy to manipulate the television to show specific images, so it was only natural that projecting his memories onto it would be the next step from there. He’d shut off all other lights in the room and spent the past few hours crouching in front of the large box TV on the floor, watching.

“I believe Dark tried to warn you against sentimentality.”

“So you know about that, G?” Anti grumbled. “The conversation had more nuance to it than that. And even if they had said that, this has more purpose. I need to see if there’s something…” he trailed off. “I need more information.”

G stepped into the room, walking up to the television. He tilted his head as he stared at the frozen image. “If you need to know something, I would be happy to assist.”

“As amazing as you are, you can’t help with this.” Anti waved his hand over the screen and it fizzled to static. “You can’t find this on the Internet, only in my mind. There’s not even any CCTV footage you can look at, because of, you know…them not existing at the time.”

“I see.” G stepped back. “Well, I am here if there’s anything you need.”

Anti rolled his eye. “Yeah, sure.” It wasn’t like he could do anything G could do, but by himself. “I’ll find you.”

G nodded, and quietly left the room. Anti didn’t watch him go, but he felt it happen, taking note of G’s electricity getting farther away. The moment he judged him far enough, the static on the TV faded, and the memory reappeared. He leaned forward again, getting so close that particles from his glitchy body started to leap to and from the screen.

There was a lot he was missing from this story, but still he wondered if there was something that could help him understand.


	46. Another Place, A Different Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While Jackie and Frederick grow ever closer to finding Jameson and Marvin, Anti takes a look at long-ago memories.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so in the last chapter I had a flashback section where everything was written in italics, but that got annoying to type out. So for the flashback sections going forward, it'll be written just like the rest of the fic's format, and you'll have to use ~context clues~ Alright have fun :D

The sky was dark outside, but the airport was just as busy as ever. It was two in the morning and passengers loaded with baggage were still leaving the departure area. Cars, taxis and shuttles were lined up to provide rides to anyone who needs them. Some passengers headed straight to the line of vehicles, but others loitered around to wait. Among that latter group was a pair of men, one in a black peacoat and one in a new-looking red hoodie. Both of them looked pretty tired, yet they stood at the curb and waited. “So…what are we looking for?” The one in the hoodie asked. 

“Gimme a moment, Jackie.” The one in the coat pulled out his phone and started tapping it.

Jackie waited, swaying on his feet. “We can get a hotel, right? I feel like I’m gonna fall asleep right here.”

“You should’ve slept on the plane. It was eleven hours.”

“Well, not everyone can fall asleep the moment they sit down, Fred,” Jackie huffed.

Frederick winced. “Please don’t call me that. I like the full name, not that version. But still, eleven hours?”

“I’ve always had trouble getting to sleep,” Jackie shrugged. “Anyway, what’re we looking for?”

“Apparently they’ll be in a light blue Nissan,” Frederick said, putting his phone away. “With a local license plate.”

“Fucking car models,” Jackie muttered, scanning the lines for a light blue car. “Uhhhh…remind me why we have to meet someone?”

“Look, we can’t just waltz into another country to do an investigation,” Frederick explained. “We had to at least inform NAMU that we were coming.”

“NAMU? That sounds like a whale name,” Jackie laughed to himself.

Frederick smiled. “North American Magical Union. They’re like the ABIM, but in charge of the US and Canada. While investigating here, we have to be compliant with their laws, and trust me they have a lot more than we do. Then once I told them that the suspect was in Los Angeles, they threw a fit and insisted that one of their operatives has to come with us.”

“Speaking of which, is that them?” Jackie pointed at a car some ways down the line. It was a nice pastel blue color that matched the description.

“Probably.” Frederick leaned down and picked up the extended handle of his wheeled suitcase. “You got your suitcases or should I carry one?”

“Hey, who d’you think you’re talking to?” Jackie joked. “I got this.” He adjusted the straps of his backpack and grabbed the handles of his two bags.

Frederick smiled again, then waved in the blue car’s direction as the two of them headed towards it. After a few seconds, the driver’s side door opened, and a woman stepped out. “Hey!” she shouted. “You two!” Then she ran up to them. “You’re who I’m looking for, right? The magicians from England?”

“Wh—” Jackie blinked in surprise at her bluntness. He took a moment to look her over. She was wearing a three-piece suit and tie, all in a pale pink color that contrasted sharply against her dark skin. Her curly hair was pulled back in a ponytail. “I—uh—”

“You’re Shay Wright?” Frederick interrupted.

“If you’re Frederick Chiu,” the woman said. “And someone else whose name they didn’t give me.”

“That’s me,” Frederick nodded. “This is Jackie, he’s my friend. Nice to meet you, Shay.”

Shay grabbed Frederick’s hand and shook it. “Yeah, real nice to meet magicians from other places. You know what they say about cultures and shit.”

“I’m not actually a magician,” Jackie said.

“Well, same principle.” Shay gestured with her head back at her car. “C’mon. Who wants shotgun?”

Shay helped them load their bags into the car’s trunk, then they all got inside the car and headed out. Jackie ended up in the backseat. Frederick had offered to get in the back with him, but Jackie had reassured him it was alright. As they left the airport, Jackie leaned into the area between the two front seats and asked, “So, do we have a hotel or something?”

“Yeah, don’t worry about it, I booked one this morning,” Shay shrugged.

Jackie blinked. “So…you don’t live in the area? Wouldn’t it be more convenient to meet up with someone from around here?”

“Sorry, bud, that’s not possible. No magicians live around here for miles.” Shay glanced around and noticed both Frederick and Jackie staring at her in confusion. “Los Angeles and the area around it is designated a forbidden zone by NAMU law,” she explained. “Nobody’s allowed in except on official business.”

“That’s…odd,” Frederick said.

“Maybe to you, British boy.” Shay chuckled to herself. “But trust me, sometimes forbidden zones are needed. There are places where…well, things are hard to control. And we have a lot of ground to cover, so we leave some places to themselves so we can focus on shit that actually matters.”

“Huh. Well, I’m not about to question the way you run things, I guess,” Frederick said reluctantly.

“Unless it actually causes problems,” Jackie added.

“Yes, that,” Frederick agreed, smiling a bit.

“That’s the spirit.” Shay went silent for a few seconds as she merged onto an overpass. “Lemme tell you, I’ve been in the area three times before on business, and things can get dicey here. For some reasons, magical anomalies and beings really like this area. Some of them are friendly, some of them not so much. Gotta be prepared.”

“Uh…what sort of magical beings?” Jackie asked cautiously.

“Oh you know…demon, fae, shadows, shapeshifters, and things that can’t be categorized,” Shay said casually.

Frederick made a surprised choking sound. “H-how many of them are there?!”

“We’re not sure. But they’re all over the place.” She gestured out the window. “One of these cars definitely has one inside, even if we can’t tell.”

“Frederick,” Jackie said. “D’you think that’s maybe why they came here? To look for one of these…beings? Maybe for help with something?”

“Hmm…if that’s really the case, then I’d say it’s likely.” Frederick reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper: the map they’d gotten from the tracking spell. He muttered the command word, and the address reappeared on the map. “They’re definitely in the city. Or at least, Jameson is.”

“Hey, so I gotta ask you guys some things,” Shay said. “My boss sent me the overview of the case you’re working on. Sounds nasty, dealing with a Shell or whatever you guys call them. Never met one. But the overview left out a lot of details. Like what you’re actually looking for in here. I mean, from what I hear about Shells, they’re pretty destructive, you’d think we’d have noticed one acting up.”

Jackie and Frederick exchanged looks. “It’s a…long story,” Jackie eventually said. “And we’re tired.”

“Alright, alright, I hear you. We can wait until morning.” Shay didn’t seem too happy about that, but she took it in stride. “We’re almost to the hotel.”

Jackie sighed, and leaned back in the seat. Frederick glanced back and gave him a thumbs-up in encouragement. A sort of “hang in there” gesture. Jackie smiled in return, then closed his eyes. Maybe he’d be able to sleep a bit on the way there. Or maybe not.

* * *

What was going _on_ in there?

Marvin sat outside the door to the bathroom, easily picking up the noises from inside with his now-enhanced cat hearing. Schneep had been in there for about two hours, and though the worst of the heaving sounds had ended thirty minutes ago, he showed no sign of leaving. That was…troublesome. Marvin leaned down and tried to peer under the gap in the door, but couldn’t see much of anything.

He meowed loudly. There wasn’t a response to that, so he reached out and started scratching the door with both paws. After a solid thirty minutes of that, the door opened, and Schneep peered down at Marvin. He…didn’t look good. Though what was he expecting of someone who’d spent about an hour losing the contents of his stomach? This pale and shaky appearance would be normal for something like that. “What is it, Marvin?” Schneep asked in a hoarse voice.

Marvin tilted his head, trying to give Schneep a meaningful look. Of course, he wasn’t sure how well it was coming across, considering how even before he was a cat he’d had trouble with expressions.

But Schneep seemed to understand. “I…do not know what that was,” he muttered, running a hand through sweaty hair. “I-I think maybe something I ate? I was poisoned by the food? Or…or maybe it was just regular poisoning?”

 _Hrrrrow_. Marvin tried to roll his eyes, thumping his tail against the floor irritably.

“It is not crazy,” Schneep said defensively. “Someone may want to do that. It is not out of the ordinary. The only question is when they could have done it.”

Well, he was right. There wasn’t anyone who could have had the opportunity to poison Schneep’s food. Or…was there? Because Jameson had been taking charge of most of the meals. Not all of them, but enough. And if Marvin knew anything about Jameson, it was that he liked being in control. If Schneep was his usual self, it would be an unexpected variable, and unexpected variables were best avoided.

“I have to get out of this room.” Schneep said, glancing around the hotel room. “I’ve been here much too often recently. A-and maybe fresh air will help me feel better. Do you want to come?”

Marvin nodded. Best make sure nothing happened to Schneep while he was out. He stood up, stretched his entire body, and watched as Schneep turned back into the bathroom and splashed his face with water. He muttered something in German and then headed towards the hotel door, Marvin hurrying to catch up with him.

There was no doubt in his mind that Jameson was doing something to Schneep. What it was, he wasn’t sure. It might’ve been done with good intentions, but the effect was anything but. Marvin hoped he knew what he was doing. Otherwise things could go very sour very quickly.

* * *

The knocking on the door wouldn’t stop. It was going on ten minutes now…ten minutes of solid knocking. JJ had come downstairs to answer the front door, but upon glancing out the curtained window he’d reconsidered. Of course, he couldn’t convince the visitor that he wasn’t home; she’d seen him when he’d looked out the window and wouldn’t let up since then. So JJ just stood in the middle of the parlor and stared, motionless, at the door.

“Do you need any help or anything?” Anti suddenly appeared next to him, bringing him a whine of radio static. “You’re frozen.”

JJ glanced at him, then nodded once.

“Get out of sight, I got this.” Anti headed towards the door, and as if a spell was broken, JJ ran into the hallway. The moment he was gone, Anti opened the front door.

“Finally! James, I—” The woman at the door cut herself off, clearly confused. She was short, with wide blue eyes and brown hair cut in a fashionable Charleston bob. “Why are you wearing an eyepatch?”

“I think you’re mistaking me for someone else,” Anti said curtly. “You’re looking for JJ?”

“Oh! No, you’re definitely not him. Strange, you look so much alike.” The woman smiled politely. “My name’s Alyssa. If you know James, you must have heard of me.”

“Yes, he’s mentioned you. Why are you looking for him?”

“Well no need to be a bluenose,” Alyssa said cheerfully. “Can’t I just stop by to see family? Who are you, by the way?”

“A friend,” Anti said vaguely.

“You live with him?”

“Yes.”

Alyssa raised an eyebrow. “Well, alright then.”

“Look, he’s not here right now,” Anti said irritably. “What do you want?”

“…really?” Alyssa didn’t sound convinced.

“Really. Now what. Do. you. Want.” Anti leaned a bit closer. He really wasn’t in the mood for this today, and definitely wasn’t planning on being friendly to this particular person.

“Ah, I was going to ask a favor.” Alyssa paused. “For some mazuma.”

“Why do you need money?” Anti asked. “And why do you need it from JJ?”

“It’s not important, just let him know, okay?” Alyssa took a step back. “I’ll be back tomorrow, alright?”

“Alright.” Anti watched as she turned around and headed over to a car parked on the side of the road. A handsome young man was waiting outside. Alyssa talked with him for a bit. Anti couldn’t hear it all, but he easily picked up a few phrases: ‘—in the window—’ ‘—opened the door—’ ‘—always been one of those types—’ ‘—party somewhere else—’. And then the man opened the car door for Alyssa to get in, stepped inside the driver’s side himself, and they both drove off.

Anti closed the door and turned around. “She’s gone.”

JJ stepped back into the parlor. He hurried to the window and opened the curtains, then breathed a sigh of relief at the empty street. _What did she want?_ He signed.

“Money.”

JJ groaned. _I’m not paying for any more of her rubs. Just because I’m an actor does not mean I’m paid well._

“I know.” Anti looked around the parlor. It was…nice, but to be fair, JJ had explained it wasn’t like that when he first bought the house.

 _Hey, can I ask your help for something?_ JJ asked.

Anti tilted his head. “What?”

JJ pointed down the hall. Anti gestured for him to go ahead, and the two of them headed to the staircase. On reaching the second floor, they entered the first room to the left. Inside was lined with bookshelves, though there weren’t exactly normal books on the wooden shelves. Instead, the books were large and had leather covers. One of the books was open on a desk. JJ hurried over to the desk while Anti stood in the center of the room. A radio on a round table nearby crackled as it adjusted through channels.

 _Here,_ JJ said, picking something up.

Anti took a step closer, and halfway through he disappeared and rematerialized closer to JJ. “A watch?”

The small pocket watch was silver, and had a ring of small symbols carved around the edge. JJ nodded excitedly as the small device ticked regularly on its chain. _The book recommended a talisman that would be easily carried and held._ He looked over at Anti, then looked down again. _I don’t want to trouble you, but I would like to practice with you._

“Practice telepathy? Alright.” Anti chuckled, and leaned back onto the desk. “Did you practice on anyone else, or am I the first?”

 _I tried on some passerbys,_ JJ admitted, looking almost ashamed of it. _They were quite confused, but I couldn’t really ask them what happened._

“It would be helpful if you could do that, yes.” Anti nodded. “Alright, go ahead. I’ll look out for it.”

JJ nodded, clutching the watch in his hands. After a few seconds, he seemed confused. But shrugging something off, he took a deep breath. And a few more seconds later, Anti heard a thought in his mind: {Can you hear this?}

“Yes, I heard that!” Anti said excitedly.

Surprised, JJ looked up. _Really?_ He signed.

“It was really clear for a beginner. I’m guessing this spell will come across in the target’s native language, too.” Anti beamed. “You’re pretty good at this.”

JJ looked away. _Well…thank you,_ then, he signed shyly. _But it’s strange…I’ve been practicing what the book calls ‘sensing minds,’ and, well, I couldn’t ‘feel’ yours, but I could feel everyone else’s._

“Ah, that’s probably because of me, not because of you. You’re doing great, JJ,” Anti reassured him.

 _Stop it, really, you don’t need to say that._ JJ wound the watch’s chain around his wrist. _Anyway, do you think you could help me practice mouthing now?_

“Mouthing?”

_Yes, mouthing words. If I project—as it’s called—and mouth along with what I project, it’ll look like I’m speaking._

“Why are you so concerned with this lately?” Anti asked. “You’ve never cared about speaking before. Now I’m wondering…did you pick up this telepathy just for that? You don’t need that.”

 _I know, it’s just…_ JJ hesitated, then sighed. _Cherry said that soon films will have sound, as well. And if that’s the case…I know telepathy wouldn’t help with a recording, but perhaps I could return to the live stage…_ He trailed off. _I know, I don’t need to be an actor, but I just…I want to be…known._

Anti sighed. He edged closer to JJ and put a hand around his shoulders. “It’ll be fine, JJ. You’re an amazing actor, sound or not. And may I say? It sounds like Cherry told you that just to get under your skin.”

 _Maybe…_ JJ hesitated, then pulled away. _Do you mind if I practice more? The book says that the more I do this, the more range I’ll have. I want to see what the limit is._

“Of course.” Anti nodded. “It worked when I was almost right next to you, so let’s see what’ll happen if I’m on the other side of the room.”

* * *

“This isn’t enough,” Anti muttered, the memory frozen on the television screen before him. Honestly, it just…hurt to see this. And besides that, it didn’t have anything useful. Maybe he needed to look at later ones.

The images on the screen blurred into static, slight hints of memories momentarily becoming clear in the noise before fading away. It wasn’t too long before one of these hints took hold, becoming more solid as the memory was brought to light.

* * *

The square was packed with people. Anti passed through them—sometimes literally, as his body was less than solid. The night sky was clear, and the area was lit up by strings of lights hung from streetlamp to streetlamp. It was cold, and most of the people wore coats. Not Anti.

A band played live music. Anti glanced over at them, quickly scanning their faces but not recognizing any of them. He turned his attention back to the loudly-chattering crowd. Walking quickly through the clusters, he soon reached the edge of the outdoor dance floor, where rows of people were dancing merrily.

On the other side of the dance floor, Anti’s eyes locked onto a figure. JJ. Standing and watching the dancers with a strangely bleak expression. Anti raised a hand to get his attention, but he wasn’t looking at him, so Anti started around the dance floor.

One of the dancers suddenly whirled close to JJ, a tall woman with strawberry blonde hair. Suddenly, JJ reached out and pulled her off the floor, much to her surprise. Immediately, the woman whirled on him and started talking rapidly. Her words were lost in the music and chatter, but judging by the expression on her face, they weren’t kind. JJ tried to sign, but she kept talking over him. Anti bristled, and hurried over, momentarily losing sight as he passed through more people.

Soon, he emerged from the crowd next to JJ. “Jameson, I—” Anti suddenly stopped. Something had changed in the minute he’d lost track of JJ and the woman. She’d stopped talking, and now had a rather glazed expression in her eyes. And Jameson was holding his watch—the new silver one. “…am I interrupting something?”

JJ jumped, then upon seeing Anti, looked relieved. The woman blinked a couple times, the light coming back to her expression…though with it came confusion. “What was I…? How did I…?” She looked at JJ and Anti, and smiled. “Oh, James, is this your brother? I didn’t know you had one!”

Jameson shook his head vigorously. _No, no, he’s just a friend._

“My name’s Anti,” Anti said. “I got a phone call from JJ saying he’d be here.”

“Ah, well enjoy yourselves! The night’s still young!” The woman turned around and immediately headed back onto the dance floor, ignoring both of them.

Anti gave JJ a puzzled look. “Why are all the women you know such crazed party-goers?”

 _Can we just leave, please?_ JJ stuffed the watch into his pocket, then grabbed Anti’s hand and guided him out of the square. They emerged from the crowd of people near a tall phone booth, one of the city’s newer installations. _Thank god you came, though. Thank you so much. They wouldn’t let me just leave, I was hoping you could explain—_

“What happened back there?” Anti interrupted.

JJ blinked. _What do you mean?_

“Cherry was yelling at you, I saw it. Then when I showed up, she was quiet and looked confused. Did you…do something?” JJ hesitated, and that was enough. “What did you do?”

 _I panicked!_ JJ signed hurriedly. _I didn’t want to make her upset! But I also don’t want to be here, so I thought—but then she just kept scolding me like I’m a child, saying I was ruining everything, and I remembered. There was this spell in the new book, something you could use the telepathy talisman for. Just kind of scrambling someone’s thoughts so they’d forget. I read it, but I never tried it, I didn’t know what would happen. I just didn’t want her to be mad._

“James, I…” Anti sighed. 

_Look, can you just explain to Cherry and Tim that I can’t be here right now?_ JJ asked, looking almost desperate.

“Can’t you just leave?”

 _Well, technically, yes, but you saw how she reacted when I tried to tell her._ JJ looked down. _Then when I see them at the studio they won’t talk to me outside of work for at least three days._

Anti stared at JJ, then sighed again. “Alright, fine, I’ll tell them something came up.”

JJ’s expression lit up. He launched himself at Anti, who stumbled before catching him in a hug. After a moment of tight squeezing, JJ pulled away again, signing ‘thank you’ over and over again.

“Yes, yes, you’re very welcome,” Anti muttered. “But just promise me one thing.”

JJ looked confused. _What?_

“Don’t try that confusion spell or whatever you did ever again,” Anti warned. “You don’t know what effect it could have on the person.”

 _Oh. I hadn’t even thought of that._ JJ looked down again. _It just seemed like the best idea at the time. I could look it up later?_

“If you want, just…be careful.” There was clear worry in Anti’s voice. “You could hurt someone. Or yourself.”

JJ nodded. _Of course. I won’t do it again._

“Great. Thank you.” Anti looked over the crowd. “I’ll tell your friends you have to leave, you start hailing a taxicab.”

_I don’t know if they run this late._

“Well, at least try. We can always walk if none show up.”

JJ nodded, saluting humorously. Anti laughed a bit, watching as he turned away from the party and headed to the street. But then it faded.

What sort of spells were in that book? Confusion was mostly harmless, he supposed, but the problem was that it was easy to jump from confusion to more dangerous magick. He’d have to check out the book later.

* * *

“And then I didn’t.” Anti pulled back from the screen. “And then I did nothing.” Growling, he hit the side of the television, causing the image to flicker wildly and then disappear when the TV turned off.

It wasn’t often that he looked back on something and wished he’d done it differently.

He closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. Really took a breath, not just imitated the process like he sometimes did. He made sure he was solid and had all the proper parts in place, then went through the whole process of one breath. It was…well, it certainly gave him something else to focus on.

This memory still wasn’t enough on its own. Though it was good to go back to the beginning, all it told him on its own was that inducing confusion had been the first thing Jameson had picked up on. That made sense, most people picked up on it. But nowadays, Jameson rarely left it at just that. There was always more to it with him.

What he needed was more information about the watch. He needed to know if there was something…something that could be done about it. At the time, it had just been a talisman, but it eventually changed into much more. Blood magick…that must’ve happened after he left, but maybe there were hints to it beforehand.

Anti sat up straight, turning the television back on and becoming less solid once again.

This wasn’t for him. This was for information. Or at least, he told himself as much.


End file.
